--Updated: 20th June '06--Added Section #7- Wolf Knowledge--
Greetings everybody, my name's Moogie, and I'm here to discuss a few of the basic (and some more advanced) tips and tricks that other guides tend to ignore. These are mainly small things here and there that will help you get the most out of the game whilst minimising wasted time and effort.
So, from the top.
CONTENTS
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#1. Quests.
#2. Leveling.
#3. Jobs.
#4. Skills.
#5. Item and Alchemy Properties.
#6. The Effects of HP/MP Regeneration in Battle.
#7. Wolf Knowledge.
#Footnotes. General tidbits of useful information.
#1. Quests.
Complete every single quest you find. You may or may not notice, but after leveling your character, a small icon will appear as a golden 'scroll' underneath your radar (top right corner of the screen). Clicking this will give you the names of the NPCs which, at this level, can offer you a quest.
Use your map to find NPCs. As a newbie, you won't know who the NPCs are and where you can find them. Your map will help. Press M. You can click and drag to move the map view around, and click on the name of a town to zoom in and view that town's details. That little icon I mentioned will usually tell the NPC's job, if he has one, such as "Herbalist" or "Weaponsmith". Using your map, you can tell where to find these stores.
Quest NPCs are easy to spot. When you do find an NPC who is offering a quest, you'll see a golden scroll floating above his head. Now, here's some good info: Golden scrolls mean a quest you havn't yet taken is available there. A white scroll means this NPC has given you a quest, and you're still in the progress of completing it. A bronze scroll means you've completed a quest, and this NPC will give you the reward.
Once you complete a quest, collect the reward. Press Q to bring up your Quests list after you've picked some up. If you click on a quest you've completed but not yet collected the reward for, your radar will point a large yellow dot in the direction of the NPC you need to find. This dot also appears on your map (M). Useful if you forget who you need to collect your reward from.
Linking quests require you to complete a crap quest first. Some quests may not be available to you, even though you're the correct level to receive them. Why is this? They are called Linking Quests. This means there is an initial quest, usually with a very pointless, measly reward, that you must complete first. They may not seem worth it, but trust me, get them out of the way and then you can pick up far better Linking Quests afterwards.
You can view the rewards before you finish a quest. If you go into your Quests window (Q) and click on the small scroll beside a particular quest, you'll bring up even more information, including what the NPC initially told you, what you need to do/find/kill/collect, and the rewards you will receive. A note on rewards: Both xp and sp mentioned are experience amounts. By 200000sp, it doesn't literally mean it will give you 200k skill points, just skill point experience.
Item Collection Quests Cheat. You'll come across some quests where the items you need to collect off monsters can be shared with other people, dropped, put in storage or sold. Most quests won't allow you to get rid of your quest items at all. When you're collecting these 'shareable' items, you may wish to save some time or make a heap of money by doing the following. Take the Devil Bug Eggs quest as an example. Now, this quest is repeatable, meaning that once you complete the quest, you can talk to the NPC again and pick it back up (but this is limited- usually twice or three times more). Collect 200 bug eggs and go back to town, but do not talk to the NPC yet. Go to your storage. Deposit all 200 eggs into storage, and then go to the NPC. Woohoo, he'll let you complete your quest even though you're not holding the eggs! And you know what? You won't even have to go back out killing Devil Bugs, because you -still- have 200 eggs in storage! So pick up the quest again. Go to your storage. Get all 200 eggs, and
do not miss this next step: drop one, pick it back up, put all the eggs back in storage. Your quest counter will now show as Completed, and you can go talk to the quest NPC and complete the quest again! Isn't this great?
And the best part is, once you're done repeating this, put your 200 bug eggs in a store and sell them for like 200k or more.
#2. Leveling.
Fight monsters close to your level. It seems obvious, but try to fight monsters slightly above, or at your level. Lower level monsters give gradually less xp as you grow.
Parties are good- never decline 'Each Gain XP' party requests! There are two types of party: 'Share XP', and 'Each Gain XP'. Share XP parties require all members to stick near eachother and all contribute to killing mobs in order to gain maximum xp. This type of party generally sucks. Each Gain XP, on the other hand, is fantastic. Whilst you can only have 4 people in this type of party (as opposed to a max of 8 in Share parties), it's far superior to Share XP in two important ways: Firstly, you don't have to stick together. The extra XP will apply even if you're on opposite sides of the world. The second difference is that you gain your own XP, but the XP that you gain from every mob you kill is increased up to approximately 15% in a full party. Everyone kills their own mobs, gets their own XP, and enjoys the benefits without the annoyance of sticking close and moving as a group. Never decline an Each Gain XP party request. If you do, you're an idiot.
Quests = Leveling. A huge part of leveling, especially as you move into your 20's and 30's levels, will be quests. Leveling becomes slower as your character grows in most any RPG game, but in Silkroad, if you ignore your quests, you will spend
weeks pointlessly killing mobs with no real goal to it. Quests become samey and even annoying at times, but they really do help to break up the monotony of levelgrinding, and give a purpose to it all. Quests help, period. And the rewards you get will range from 5% to 50% of your required XP. It's worth it, no matter what.
#3. Jobs.
Traders.
First, a simple fact: Camels hold more goods for less stars, and move slower. Horses hold less goods for more stars, and move faster. Camels have about twice as much HP as horses. Which should you use? Camels. Always. Let me explain why. They move slower, yes, but the benefits outweigh this small difference in speed. As you're filling up your trade animal with goods, eventually your rating will rise from 1 star to 2 stars and more. You can see this at the bottom of your animal's inventory window. With a camel, the amount of goods you can fill up before moving to 2 star ranking will be more than a horse can hold at 1 star. Try it, you'll see. This means you'll get more profit, more trader xp, at no extra risk.
Traders gain job XP by successfully transporting goods from one town and selling them in another. Buy blocks of 10 goods and carry as much as a 1 star rating will allow. The amount you can fit in a 1 star will differ depending on your trader level and xp amount. Watch the market prices as you trade- they should be at 387% profit most of the time, but if many people are trading those goods, that value will decrease significantly- and so will the XP and gold you gain.
Stick to 1 star trades as much as possible, especially if you're under level 30. On higher stars, more NPC thieves spawn. Those NPCs are stronger. Player thieves can attack you and rob you of your goods. If you're 1 star you'll get one NPC thief spawn every now and then, and no player thieves can attack you.
If you do try 2+ star trades, hire many high level hunters to help you.
Carry recovery kits (trade animal potions) with you while you're trading. If you run into trouble you can just spam these potions untill you reach safety. Carry extra trade animal scrolls also, just incase.
Hunters.
Hunters gain XP by killing NPC thieves and player thieves.
You should wait untill lv30+ before becoming a dedicated Hunter. There will be many high level thieves prowling around, and you'll get chased and killed on sight most of the time.
There's a good way to tell the level of any particular thief you come across, and judge whether it's worth taking them on or fleeing. Look at their weapon. Learn the appearance and level requirement of people's weapons to tell, roughly, their character's level. Someone weilding a halbert may be anywhere from lv32 to 42. Some high level thieves hold newbie weapons to throw Hunters off guard, so be careful.
Thieves.
I've no special information on this job, having never tried it. I know only that they can only attack traders who are trading at 2 stars and above. They kill hunters and traders for XP.
#4. Skills.
There's some useless skills that serve little use and are a waste to level. Everything else is your choice, but please, for your own sake, avoid the following.
Swords: Castle Shield. All you can do is stand there and take hits, no attacking allowed. If that's all you can do, this skill is worthless- kill the mobs instead of standing there and dying slowly.
Spears: Wolf Bite Spear. Soul Spear Move is much more powerful than this and it also stuns your enemy. This skill does nothing special and it's damage is weak.
Spears: Bloody Fan Storm. Same as Castle Shield- you can't do anything while performing this skill. It's a constant drain on MP, and leaves you standing there, immobile and vulnerable.
Cold: Cold Wave Arrest. At most, get 1 level of this skill, and then avoid it like the plague. This skill does 1 point of damage to any mob, slows them down, and attracts them to you. Fairly useful for drawing mobs towards you, but don't waste skillpoints leveling it any further, because it doesn't do anything else.
Cold: Crystal Wall. This is only useful for Archers really. It makes you immobile, but if something is in your attacking range, you can still attack it. It's okay for archers, since their attacks are ranged, but if you're a melee attacker you'll have to wait for things to get near you. It's an MP drain, you have to toggle it off before you can do anything, and it's generally a waste of skillpoints.
Cold: Frost Nova Wind. Does no damage, costs even more mp than Ice River Force which has a chance to do exactly the same as what this skill does- slow or freeze.
Lightning: Concentration. Parry doesn't appear to be implemented at this stage. And if it is, it hardly makes any difference at all to whether a monster hits you or not. Keep an eye on this skill for the future, but right now, it'd be a waste to use it.
Fire: Fire Wall Tower. Same as Castle Shield and Crystal Wall.
Force: Self Breathe Heal. Pointless, weak, costly. Heal-Medicine Hand works perfectly well to heal yourself, and by the time you max it's first book, it's healing power already exceeds Self Breathe Heal's
second book. Avoid like the plague.
Vital Spot Muscle. Really... when do you ever see a monster dodge your attacks? I'm not talking about NPC thieves with shields... that's
blocking. Obviously dodging isn't implemented yet, and if it is, it's so rare as to warrant complete avoidance of this skill. The second book of this skill is interesting, and for that reason alone, it
may be worth leveling. It's up to you.
#5. Item and Alchemy Properties.
Every item has a standard set of properties no matter where it comes from or how powerful it is. All items have a level requirement, and equipment (not weapons) have special requirements that restrict you from mixing armours of different classes together. You see, all equipment is classed as one of three things: Protector, Garment and Armor. You can wear any of these sets, but you cannot mix two classes together. Your equipment must consist only of one class, so you can't be wearing Garment shoulder talismans with an Armor chestplate. Thankfully, any weapons can be worn with any equipment classes.
Equipment may be normal, but you may also find pieces with plus-signs after the name, or their properties may appear in blue.
With plussed equipment, the stats are slightly increased above their normal values. Equipment that is +3 or more will sell quite high to other players, so if you want to make a bit of cash, do not sell these to NPC merchants. Research prices by looking at other people's stalls, and put yours up for sale.
Blue equipment contains properties that either increase your Int stat, your Strength stat, reduces status ailment timers (more on that later), or gives advantages to the Alchemy process (also more on that later).
Here's a quick rundown of what the basic statistics of all items are.
Degree: Overall rating of the quality of the item, based on its stats. (Note: Degree is linked to Alchemy in a way I will explain later).
Phy. Defense min/max: The rate of defense against physical attacks that this adds to your overal Phys Def value in your Character screen. Accumulative with other equipment defense values.
Phy. Attack min/max: The value of attack strength that this adds to your overal Phys Attack value in your Character screen. Accumulative with magic-enhancing attack values.
Phy. Reinforce: This value isn't entirely known. My personal theory is that these min and max values are the 'margin of error' with which your attack damage is calculated.
Mag. Defense min/max: The rate of defense against magical attacks that this adds to your overal Mag Def value in your Character screen. Accumulative with other equipment defense values.
Mag. Attack min/max: The value of attack strength that this adds to your overal Mag Attack value in your Character screen. Accumulative with magic-enhancing attack values.
Mag. Reinforce: This value isn't entirely known. My personal theory is that these min and max values are the 'margin of error' with which your attack damage is calculated.
Durability: 99/99 <- The first number represents current durability, whilst the second represents maximum durability. Durability is the quality of the item- as you make use of it over time, the current value will degrade. If it reaches 0, the item breaks, and you cannot use it again untill you have it repaired. Never let your equipment break before repairing it- not only will it cause an inconvenience to you if you're caught without a weapon, but it also decreases the item's stats, making them weaker than before! Repair your equipment frequently by visiting any Blacksmith or Armour Merchant in town and clicking the Repair All button in the Buy window.
Attack Distance: The maximum distance from your target you can stand before being able to reach and attack it.
Attack Rating: The speed with which you swing, stab, or fire your weapon. A higher rating allows you to attack marginally quicker than others.
Critical: This value is a multiplier of your basic chance to perform a critical hit when attacking. Higher critical ratings allow you to perform critical hits much more frequently than others. criticals of 10 and above are generally considered good, whilst 5 and below are considered poor. Swords and bows commonly have very very little critical ratings, due to their attacking speed, so high crit swords/bows sell for lots of gold amongst players.
Parry: Accumulative value that helps reduce the chance of being damaged hard by incoming attacks.
Block: Helps increase the chance that you will altogether block an incoming phsyical or magical attack, receiving 0 damage.
Blue Equipment Statistics
Str: Extra strength points to your character.
Int: Extra magic points to your character.
Zombi/Freez/Burn/EtcHour Reduce: Reduces the length of time you will suffer any of the associated status ailments such as getting Frozen or Burned.
Lucky(xTime/Times): Increases the chance of Alchemy success on this item. Can be applied x amount of times before this value is removed and the added luck no longer applies.
Steady (xTime/Times): Reduces the chance of a failed Alchemy enhancement removing all of the item's current 'plusses'. This is the most common outcome of failed Alchemy.
Immortal (xTime/Times): Reduces the chance that a weapon will break if the Alchemy process fails. Weapon breakages are rare.
<<Alchemy Tip>> Use Lucky Powders based on the Grade of the item you're working on. A grade 3 item requires no less than a grade 3 Lucky Powder.
Special Properties
Seal of Star: Adds a unique special effect to a weapon, but adds no visible effect to equipment. Seal of <something> equipment is generally a grade higher in overall quality than a regular item of the same level. The inventory view of Seal weapons show a special animated effect that makes them stand out.
(I do not know of any other effects that Seal items bring. If you do, please let everybody know by posting your knowledge below! Thank you!)
Seal of Moon: See above
Seal of Sun: See above
#6. The Effects of HP/MP Regeneration in Battle.
I've been keeping my eye on this intriguing little game mechanic for a while now, and think I know now how to best explain it to others so that they may benefit in times of need.
As you are being attacked, you're likely to be twitching over your HP pot shortcut. Your health slowly drops in direct correlation to the amount of damage being dealt by the monster (or person). This we all know already.
I began to notice something strange a few days ago whilst watching my health during a time where I was taking damage and consuming HP pots to stay alive. Two things piqued my interest:
* Potions regenerate -far- more HP than they say in the item description.
* Potions do not technically recover a certain amount of HP, but perform a calculation when consumed that 'sets' your HP to a value based on how much HP you had at the time of consuming.
The first point I'd wager has something to do with armour types. I wear Garments, which may explain why the potions restore more HP/MP for me than stated.
The second point is a little harder to swallow, however. Read it carefully. Specifically talking of when you are
in the process being attacked, the current value of your HP is noted by the system and the amount of healing done is a fixed amount that is added to this value in order to give the final HP after consuming the potion.
Phew... okay, so I know that's still very confusing. Let me give an example.
My maximum HP is 2000. I'm taking hits of around 500hp damage each. In about 4 hits, I will die. If I killed the monster first and then used a potion while my HP was remaining static (i.e. I'm not getting hit by anything), the system thinks "Ok, Moogie is injured and has 600hp left. Consuming a medium HP potion will add 1200hp in total. 600+1200 = 1800." Thus, after consuming the potion I will be at 1800hp.
But wait a minute. That's if I'm NOT being attacked... what if I was? My HP is constantly dropping in this next example. It's at 600hp now, but in a few seconds time I'll be hit again. Before this happens, I use a HP potion. What do you think will happen?
You might think this. "If Moogie has 600hp now, uses a potion that adds 1200hp, but is HIT for 500hp damage, she will end up with 1700hp after consuming the potion". But this is wrong!!
Infact, the system does the exact same calculation whether you're taking damage or not. "Moogie has 600hp, potion adds 1200, total will be 1800hp". Now once I consume that potion, regardless of how much damage I take in the meantime, that potion will take me to 1800hp!
I could have 600hp, consume a potion, and then take 1000 damage. I would STILL end up with 1800hp.
As far as I'm aware, this same mechanic applies to MP aswell. So regenerating your MP with a potion whilst casting spells/using skills will allow you to get
much more out of the amount of MP regenerated to you.
#7. Wolf Knowledge.
Grey Wolves can be purchased at the Stable NPC for 1 million gold.
White Wolves can be purchased through the Item Mall for 130 Silk.
Grey Wolves can be sold and traded, but White Wolves cannot.
Silver/Gold EXP tickets affect a Wolf's EXP gain. If you have a Gold ticket, the experience your wolf receives from a kill is doubled (100% extra). With a Silver ticket, he gains 50% extra.
To name your Wolf, first summon it, and then open the Information page. Click the button labelled "Create name" and enter a name for your pet. This cannot be changed once set, so make sure you don't typo! All names must be unique, so if someone else has already taken that name you wanted, you cannot use it.
Wolves cannot be summoned/unsummoned 20 seconds after the end of combat. They also do not have an inventory and cannot carry items.
To heal a Wolf, use transport recovery pills. There are also special 'status abnormality' potions that can be purchased at the Stable NPC.
Wolves have a hunger bar. This meter starts at 100% and slowly drops at a rate of 1 point every 3 seconds. If the hunger bar reaches 0%, your Wolf will die. To avoid this, buy HGP potions from the Stable NPC. The hunger bar is frozen when the Wolf is unsummoned.
Did your Wolf die? Go to the Stable NPC and buy the Grass of Life item. Don't let him die too often, these things are 50k gold each!
<Growth information not yet known. To be added in the future.>
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#Footnotes.
That's all for now. There's a plethora of other tips and hints I could give, but for now I'll just say a few more things...
NEW TIP!! Ghost-Walk Phantom confuses even high-level players. This skill can seem random and almost uncontrollable unless you
know how to use it properly. It's actually very simple. You don't have to be moving or anything. You don't need to have a target, or to click anywhere on the ground before using this skill. Your cursor's position on the screen is the only thing that determines the direction of your zooooom. Point somewhere, activate the skill, and zoooom!
Click a mob and look at the colour of it's name at the top of the screen. White is your level. Green/blue is below. Pink/red is above.
Shift-clicking a dead person selects them for ressurection.
Attacking NPC thieves turns their attention onto you. If you don't want to die, don't do it.
Teleporting through means of a ferry cancels the 'cooldown' times for both removing or equipping job equipment.
The 'safety zones' of town gates are suprisingly different depending on the town and which entrance you're passing through. Learn them well, because you may be lead into a false sense of security thinking that you're inside the town's safety area, when actually you're still very much vulnerable to attack.
NEW: Check out my new "The Dangers Of..." series of threads!
The Dangers Of... 1 Star Trade Runs
The Dangers Of... Item Auctions
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Thanks everyone for questions, comments, and suggestions. And thanks Demarthl for always being there for me, to learn from and to lean on. :]
Sigh.
GLAVIE 
