So yeah, the 14 day trial brought me back and I'm gonna be here for a while (yay!) but now I'm not sure what to do..

I left right around the time I got frustrated with ToA. At the time I HATED the fact that I worked to finally get to 50 and then have to do the leveling thing all over again. Doesn't bother me any more though lol

So I have a couple 50's with no epic gear, no ML's (except one guy I had on Gareth that got 5 free MLs??) no Artifacts, no CL's (still not totally sure what these even are) and RR2'ish.

Clearly I have a lot of work to do (which I can't start until I decide on a class to play.. ugh) but where would you current vets suggest I start?

Also, are there any classes that each realm needs more of? (Except Clerics, Druids, Healers. We'll treat them as a given )

 

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Epic quests are easy enough, and Epic armour has been upgraded enough to be moderately useful, at least for finishing up the rest of the stuff you need to be doing. If you're on hib, look around for any of my lads/lasses, and we can knock that out pretty quickly.

CL's - talk to the King, then any XP you get is duplicated as Champ XP. At CL5, you get a pretty decent weapon. Or there is a quest sequence that you can do to get the Champ Weapon soon as you turn 50.

ML's - farm Glass, use it to buy ML's and MLXP. And necessary Arties as well.

 

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Literally everything in game (except astral loot) is farm-able.
The issue -> 14 day free trial; it'd suck farming and pveing for days just to have an RvR experience of a couple days.

Pre-50: Although people HATE the repeatable quests, do them continuously until you ding 50. They're boring and make the game seem like work; but the additional 5-10p you get from running it will get you on your way to making a template and they are relatively quick levelers (you can stop at high 40's if it gets unbearable to do some other quests that are great in xp as well as loot).

Literally every class now-a-days is played heavily, so there are no real "needed" classes, my suggestion is pick a class you find fun but that can also solo/small man decently... nothing worse then not being able to find a group and have to sit around in region spamming because you can't bomb around solo. Once you pick a 50 my first bet would be to:
1) Start your CL path
2) Start the ML path (you can start this at relatively low level, but until you have about a grand of bps/glass you can't really begin).
3) Get a template
4) Farm for the template; MAKE SURE you have your artifacts in template already, no points farming a template just to have to relevel temps. (this helps CL, loot & sometimes (if you're killing high enough mobs) MLs)

Artifacts: I had some confusion when I first came to ToA from classic too; they're literally items that generally have okay stats but that have some pretty awesome A) ToA bonuses (speed/damage %) B) /uses (example: Bracer of Zo' , a must-have for any class that can run it. It has 2 uses, 1 is a disorient and the other is summoning 3 weak but interrupt heavy pets).

After doing those four things you should have:
Maybe CL 3-4, Maybe ML 3 or so & a template.

You can generally compete to some degree with the completion of that list; plus the more you play the better off you are.
Start your realms LoTM quest line (found in the throne room, you should talk to the same person who started your level 30 champ quests); these are relatively easy, give great CL xp and great loot (for teh poor) which you can in turn buy pieces of template you don't feel like farming or glass for more MLs. They also require heading out into the frontiers and some even require player kills; this helps building up the RvR gamer in ya.

For the first few days; find your realms BG leader (make sure it's a keep taking one; Rescu (alb), Atrebates/Kaptkent (mid) and in hib... you're shit out of luck; don't tag the Kzar bg, or you'll literally just waste time running around aimlessly for the most part, and maybe take a keep is the Rescu zerg's on it already. And take some keeps/towers. Each one you take will be worth some decent rps but more importantly, BPs. Even if you die inside the keep while it's being taken, do not release until your realm takes it. This will help you work your ML path a bit more because each keep is 500-700 Bps if I remember correctly. This saves you time farming glass (especially if you play a PvE weak toon) and instead you can get out there and RvR a bit.

Anyways good luck.

 

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Wow! Hey thank you for such a thorough explanation. I might print that out and laminate it! (j/k... I don't have access to a laminating machine) I especially appreciate the stuff in there about templates and all. I can't wait to get started!


One question though... I'll probably stay Alb since that is where pretty much all of my old in-game possessions are, but why would I be SOL if I wanted a keep taking Hib BG? Is it a population issue or is there something mechanical that's hurting the hug-trees-and-talk-to-bugs types?

 

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Hibs don't have any consistent leadership. Keep-taking is spur-of-the-moment, or clean up the realm. Just means you have to try a bit harder to find the groups getting the action. There may not even be a BG to join.

 

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Whenever I play Hib or my realm is being invaded by Hib; it always just seems like a decent group gets started on a keep/tower, just to have an additional few add to take it down.
There's no "that guy" on hib who runs the BG around claiming things; Alb seems to be the easiest, where it's like some nighs 4-5 BGs are live and you just have to pick who's your favourite leader that gets the job done.

Playing Hib is good and bad though too:
Pros: You will never NOT have action.
Cons: You're realm is generally out zerged by both mids/hibs. Which might not be a bad thing; it just really sucks trying to run out there solo, small man when you just keep getting rolled by Fgs of visibles or Stealth.

 

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Finish up your Epics! IMO, Epic armor is more than "moderately useful". (Dagnabbit, someone should really write a comprehensive "how to come back" sticky.)

 

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I was thinking the same thing. I have been doing some low level grinding and here are more noobies than I thought there would be asking just these type of questions. This game is pretty complex and overwhelming for new people and even people who are coming back after a long absence. A leveling guide, TOA, Champ and outfitting guide would be really great. Maybe we can do it collectively, combine the results and get a sticky.

 

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Yeah it really is a lot to take in. First I log in and am riding damn dragonflies all over the place lol. Then there are huge bulls running around (I'm assuming they're house trained..) Then no sooner than I had gotten over the whole you-don't-actually-have-to-do-raids-to-get-MLs thing, I find out that they have RvR NPCs that will give you full buffs... WHAAA?! lol

 

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TO DO & NEEDS XPLAININ':
------------------------

0) Install updated CUSTOM UI.
1) SAVING ZAREES QUEST if lvl 7-12 or 48+.
2) BASIC HORSE QUEST if lvl 10-44. BUY REGULAR HORSE if lvl 45+.
3) TALK TO TOA ARBITER if lvl 40+.
4) TALK TO KING if lvl 50.
5) DRAGON FACTION QUESTS if lvl __+.
6) EPIC QUESTS.
7) REPEATABLE QUESTS.
8) TASK DUNGEON GRINDING.
9) CHAMPION QUESTS if lvl 30+.
10) Learn About: AURULITE ARMOR.
11) Learn About: SEAL ARMOR.
12) Old MASTER CRAFTERS GIFT. Crafters can MULTI-CRAFT.
13) FREE STUFF near the Throne Room.
14) RECALL STONES.
15) Yeah, you'll probably want to RESPEC. No doubt that old char's got a free one.
16) Yes, you have to chose REALM ABILITIES again. We all did. It sucked. At least the training window is better.
17) ...

 

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