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Post by johannhowitzer on Mar 31, 2019 17:06:13 GMT
Getting ready to record videos for new players, showing them around town, some early game tips, good newbie-friendly class summaries, and eventually lowbie tag guides. Here is a breakdown of what I have scripted, please suggest things that would be helpful to newbies that I've forgotten. I'm trying to keep things concise and helpful, avoiding oversaturation.
Video 1: Orientation
- Using the journal guides - Town grand tour, all relevant buildings and objects - Initial character setup, such as commands and supplies - List of good items to stash for lowbie characters - Multiplayer dynamics, party features, expectations - Brief explanation of the loot system, how splitting works - Introduction to questing, without spoilers - Basic early gearing priorities, also covering armor types - How AC works and how to get good AC early - Oltum Brewmaster build demo, pre-built - How to rest safely
Video 2: Class Overview
--- Tank --- - Avoiding flatfoot - Positioning and target priority - Carrying flexible equipment - Brief breakdown of types of tanks - Using combat modes - Useful splashes - Weapon buffs
--- Casters --- - Loot breakers - Spell resistance - Maximizing DC - Avoiding dispels - Using metamagic efficiently - Defensive Mode
--- Cleric --- - Domains - Low level pseudo-melee - Schools and key spells - Prayer and Battletide - Touch spells - Plate versus Robe
--- Mage --- - Wizard vs Sorcerer - Tiger scrolls - Invis, GS, and GV - Premo, Buffer, and Conceal over AC - Schools and key spells
--- Druid --- - Monk splash and AC - Absence of GS and splashing for UMD - Schools and key spells
--- Not recommended --- - Bard - Pure casters - Turner Cleric - Archers - Shifter - Quasis - Palemaster
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Post by sabregirl on Mar 31, 2019 22:10:31 GMT
Sounds like a good plan. Though I might disagree on the bard front, a battle bard in low levels is fine. Quasis, depending on the quasi can be okay-ish. They can be quite difficult due to the "late bloomer" problem. Agree on archers at current. Arrows are far too underpowered for their levels as a general rule. Shifters are also very underpowered at low levels, worse in some senses in legendary levels due to form affinity feats being LL only. When doing tanks be sure to include the lowbie weapon buff items. I can point you in the right direction if needed. Great project. -S
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Post by johannhowitzer on Apr 1, 2019 0:34:36 GMT
Yeah, I might give dex bard a nod in the tank section. I don't know about the lowbie weapon buffs, unless you mean alchemist fires... but I do plan to mention the Elementalist Staff.
Some of the "not recommended" are just due to steep learning curve, shifter and some quasis fall in this department. I think someone's first character ought to feel powerful and intuitive out of the box, and minimize the class-specific learning curve to facilitate the HG-wide general learning curve.
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Post by desocupado on Apr 1, 2019 4:08:03 GMT
Two quasiclasses are pretty friendly
Staffmaster -straight forward to qualify flexible damage types Life threader - straight forward to qualify
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Post by johannhowitzer on Apr 1, 2019 4:46:53 GMT
I think I'll cover the concept of quasiclasses broadly, since it's specific to HG, and leave off all quasis from recommended early classes just for simplicity's sake. However, you have reminded me of something I definitely should include - how to enter and use the Test Chamber.
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Post by simpetar on Apr 1, 2019 7:38:44 GMT
I am not sure what level can be still considered "lowbie" in your guide, but I would shy away from suggesting druid splashing UMD class. GS, BBoD and other scrolls need to come from somewhere; players will have to either have a scribe wizard (you will have touched in the sorc vs. wiz segment), or beg from others, neither of which is ideal. On the other hand, druids much like clerics can be a strong melee presence pre-20, with 2 types on Elementalist staff, AoV, buffed bear/panther pets and easy access to Oltum.
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Post by johannhowitzer on Apr 1, 2019 19:34:45 GMT
I'm covering all the way through Immortal, with some basic information about life after 40.
Strong advocate for splashing UMD on many classes, especially for a new player. I will include a scribe build and brief scribe xp farming guide. It doesn't take long to set up, and is even more useful than invis brewer. GS alone is worth the price assuming the build doesn't take a huge hit, even if you're not using it to escape from situations, you can use it to take a breath and survey things and pick your targets. As a Druid main for years in both regular and hardcore, I used GS scrolls all over the place, even just for stuff like rebuffing after being rezzed. Saved my bacon more times than I can count. A little extra setup is worth the safety for someone finding their feet.
Druids are far worse than Clerics in melee, except around perhaps level 5 when tiger scrolls are still good. They lack self-enhancement and Divine Power/Aid/Bless, so they whiff most of the time. Good defensive tanks though, especially once Monk shows up.
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Post by rainbowdash on Apr 3, 2019 9:23:13 GMT
I would add a point about reincarnation to your list because I doubt any new player wants to run around in LL with a 1-2 splashed druid just to scribe scroll or some such gimmick that is cool preLL but rather more fluff than buff after.
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Post by chainlink on Apr 3, 2019 9:45:00 GMT
Yes reincarnation pre-LL makes a huge difference as to what I suggest new players do, basically a Yuan-Ti sorcerer (exp bonus) which is capable of doing all but a couple of the pre-LL accomplishments without too much pain then reincarnate it at 40 before you do the immortal into whatever you want to play in LL.
If you are desperate you can splash in a Ranger or Druid level at level 2 or 3 (you'll get 2 free levels from the Rowan Guardian) to allow enough Animal Empathy to snag the Oltum and make accomplishments up to level 25 achievable plus you can cast Invisibility (and later on Greater Sanctuary) on yourself to enable risk free Oltum farming.
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Post by johannhowitzer on Apr 5, 2019 0:00:59 GMT
Recorded and uploaded tonight, I will be timestamping a bunch of stuff in the description, which also has useful links. Mic quality is not great, I know, I'm no sound engineer and have no idea how to improve that.
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Post by simpetar on Apr 5, 2019 10:33:36 GMT
Just watched the video, good job Some great info in there, but I have few points to make: 1. It's long. 1:30h is fine for a stream or playthrough, but a guide suffers a bit. Timestamps are a great idea, better yet, cut it to smaller segments - intro, shops, gear with early immunities, making early gold, etc. Shorter videos are easier to navigate and look better on your youtube list 2. You can store stacks of items in bank chests - I do it with GS pots, life unbound pots, positive protection pots and others all the time. Scrolls too. 3. Classes with d6 HP and lower get lvl 3 from Rowan's Guardian, classes with d8 and above get lvl 2. Not that it matters too much for practical purpose though. Also, it may be worth mentioning that you are given maximum HP every time you level up, instead of rolling a dice. Veterans of HG take that for granted, people coming from other servers might no know this. 4. "!list loot" will give you a clearer overview if you forgot to put something in the split chest after a run than "!list rarity" (although it has its uses) 5. If you need to monitor buff duration, HGX is out there, although you will need to tinker with it a little bit. It comes especially handy in LLs+ which is probably why you did not include it here, I assume? 6. The rare druid belt is Zephyr's Song, it is the smooth bright green one with black stripes. 7. When you talked about reusable and consumable keys, was there supposed to be another screen? 8. Early gold making - what could POSSIBLY go wrong when a first time player tries to avoid spawn triggers in PoW Seriously, there might be easier ways that will not get you killed over and over unless you are intimately familiar with the exact path. Such as "!randomize" command (worth a segment of its own?) - it can yield absurd amounts of gold for its level. Even gear from the rat cellar may turn into useful stuff later on, or produce low level items with all standard props removed, sought after by older players who slap them with mystical augments. Plus it's fun to "!randomize" everything you don't need EDIT: added note about HP on level up
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Post by woqued on Apr 5, 2019 14:05:13 GMT
+1 for !randomize
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Post by johannhowitzer on Apr 5, 2019 23:16:23 GMT
Well, I'm not a fan of the length or the mic issues, so I might re-record this. Script it more tightly, taking into account more suggestions you've made, and actually learn basic sound engineering. I have a Samson C01U hypercardioid mic, but nothing I do seems to make it sound any good. It's plugged into a pretty bad USB hub, not sure if that could be causing an issue, plus the computer I recorded on is really old which is why all the FPS drops in the game, it really chugs with NWN and OBS Studio running at the same time.
If anyone knows of a good comprehensive beginner's guide for using a mic with OBS, that goes into more depth than, "here's how you plug the mic in and make sure it's getting picked up in OBS," I'd be very grateful.
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Post by johannhowitzer on Apr 19, 2019 22:42:40 GMT
Currently working on fully scripting this video, rather than improvising from an outline. I have a decent solution for the video and mic quality problems, I think, and the finished product should be a fraction of the length with more content.
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