Help me get my head around Mabinogi.

• Ailyene wrote on 2010-09-25 04:41

  Quote from Richard;164998:

  Ok. Let's get this rebirthing stuff straight. Ailyene brought up a good method for people that don't want to commit to weekly rebirths but still want to stay ahead of the free rebirthing community. First, let's correct one of her points, the one example about 8 PM and 1 AM. That is false. After you rebirth, you must wait until the 7th day to rebirth. You can rebirth anytime on that 7th day. That means you can rebirth at night one Saturday and rebirth again the next Saturday in the morning. So here's how that particular rebirthing method goes:

  
  
  My point wasn't false. I was saying that you could RB on Saturday at 8 PM, then RB at next week's Saturday 1 AM, which is basically what you're saying by "you can rebirth at night one Saturday and rebirth again the next Saturday in the morning". And oh, I thought basic cards were $9. Well then you actually spend $1 less than what I said if you choose to buy basic cards!
  
  And yes, my level 50 was just an example. I chose 50 because my goal per RB is 50 lol (sometimes go over though). Also, I said that I didn't include exploration because that was just an example to compare the rebirths. So there was no need to include exploration/etc. It wouldn't make a difference when comparing them.
• Kira wrote on 2010-09-25 04:45
  I'm definitely sticking to my plan as far human melee. Giants are probably more advantageous in that area, but, I like humans.
  
  Also, my plan is to definitely start off using solely freebirths, as you folks call 'em.
  
  But eventually I do see myself restarting for the sake of having those additional benefits from weekly rebirthing. At what point will I do this?
  Who knows. But eventually.
  
  Thanks to everyone who helped. Means a lot.
• December wrote on 2010-09-25 05:18

  Quote from Kira;164685:

  Ideally, if I were to choose a human melee, what age should I begin at?
  And at age should I rebirth? And which age should I rebirth to?

  
  
  This depends how much NX you want to spend.
  For most players, Rebirth at age 20 and rebirth to age 17. This will cost you nothing and is the best AP gain possible without losing money.
  Idealy, you want to rebirth to 10 and rebirth as soon as leveling beings getting difficult. This is because between Age 10 to 14, it provides the highest HP, LUCK and DEX gain possible.
  For many Nation-ers this means Rebirthing to 10, spending that week getting to lvl70, lvl20 exploration and rebirthing when they hit 11. However if you can't level that fast, it would seem a bit of a waste of NX.
  
  

  Quote from Kira;164685:

  Ideally, if I were to choose a human melee, what skills should I develop first?
  And which should I avoid? Etc, etc.

  
  
  Most guides will cover this better in depth but essentially you want to get the difficult skills out of the way first. These are Windmill, Refine and Animal Taming. After that you focus on melee skills such as Smash, Crit, Final Hit and Defense. Meanwhile you can look towards Life Skills which provide beneficial stats (e.g Weaving provides Dex and therefore adds Balance, Carpentry provides Str for more damage)
  
  

  Quote from Kira;164685:

  If I plan on being PvE, do I lose out on any benefits I'd get from PvP?
  Or is PvP solely for enjoyment only?

  
  
  Theres no benefits from PVP, its simply for bragging rights or to fuel some e-peen. You'll find most people will rage or QQ from PVP unless its with friends and even then do I rarely partake
• Kira wrote on 2010-09-25 05:25
  December, thanks a ton.
  I was literally in the process of writing up a post asking what I should do later on (as in, after the essential skills have been maxed).
  I needed more information, and I got it without asking. xD
  Thanks again.
  
  Also, yeah, I'm definitely going to do the 20>17>20 route for a while.
  No point in spending money weekly for rebirths if I'm not experienced enough to make the most of it.
• Kaeporo wrote on 2010-09-25 14:35

  Quote from Kira;165189:

  I'm definitely sticking to my plan as far human melee. Giants are probably more advantageous in that area, but, I like humans.
  
  Also, my plan is to definitely start off using solely freebirths, as you folks call 'em.
  
  But eventually I do see myself restarting for the sake of having those additional benefits from weekly rebirthing. At what point will I do this?
  Who knows. But eventually.
  
  Thanks to everyone who helped. Means a lot.

  
  
  1. You're making rebirth complicated.
  1a. Freebirth: Rebirth to age 17 whenever you reach age 20.
  1a1. Free, slow
  1b. Paid rebirth: Rebirth to 10 every week.
  1b1. Costs NX, rebirth three times faster, more AP gained through aging
  1c. Start off freebirthing since you won't have the stats to grind to a decent level every week. Pay for rebirths once you can effectively solo at least Defeat the Shadow Warrior.
  2. As a Human Knight, you'll want to rank skills in this order;
  2a. Windmill(r1), Refine(r1), Critical Hit(r1)
  2b. Combat Mastery(r1), Smash(r1) or Combat Mastery/Smash(r5), Both(r1)
  2c. Carpentry(r1), Lightning Bolt(r5), Final Hit(r5), Weaving(r1)
  2d. (Future) Down Attack(r1), Sword Mastery(r1)
  3. You'll likely want to break off into another skill set before this list is done. I suggest against such a move. Once your melee is good enough to warrant paying for rebirths, you can opt for an alternate build.
  3a. Archer. Combined with melee, you can effectively tackle opponents without natural shield, heavy stander. Support Shot can triple the melee damage of one attack while other ranged skills offer safer but less reliable damage at a faster rate. Archers have few multiagro options but can deal impressive single target DPS. Ranged combat opts for high dexterity and critical rate.
  3b. Wizard. Magic is difficult to maintain and hybrid. Switching from a wand drains all of your mana, keep that in mind. Magic users go beyond the use of bolt spells. You'll generally deal high damage over a wide radius at a slower rate of attack. Thunder is the prefered Human intermediate spell, with Blaze and Ice Spear seeing regular use. Wizards will opt for either high mana/intelligence or high defense/protection coupled with mana shield.
  3c. Alchemist. Alchemy is unique in that stats have very little influence on your effectiveness. Alchemy has few offensive skills but several which support your combat. Summoned Golems are extremely powerful despite the rarity of golem crystals. Spark is difficult to obtain but can stun large groups of enemies, Frozen Blast can freeze a small cone of enemies for short periods of time, Barrier Spikes creates walls that blocks off opponents, etc. Alchemists have no stat focus.
  4. The Gladius is an excellent entry level melee weapon. Eventually you'll switch to the 222 Broadsword or 251 Battle sword. The War Sword and Beholder Sword are rarer but more powerful options. The Spirit Gladius is generally the best duel Human weapon compared to the spirit Dustin Silver Knight sword or spirit Two-handed sword which are considered to be the best two handed weapons. Decent ranged weapons include the Leather Long Bow which is replaced by the Long Bow/Elven Short Bow/Crossbow or the rare Wing Bow. Spirit ranged options include the Leather Long Bow, Ring Bow, Wing Bow or Crossbow with the Wing Bow generally considered to be the best of class.
• Cryosite wrote on 2010-09-26 11:30

  Quote from Kira;165212:

  December, thanks a ton.
  I was literally in the process of writing up a post asking what I should do later on (as in, after the essential skills have been maxed).
  I needed more information, and I got it without asking. xD
  Thanks again.
  
  Also, yeah, I'm definitely going to do the 20>17>20 route for a while.
  No point in spending money weekly for rebirths if I'm not experienced enough to make the most of it.

  
  
  Once you have those basic essentials out of the way, you're really free to develop how you like. But, you state you want to be a human melee; this is a fine choice. You're priorities should be increasing your offense. Higher STR stat, higher damage. Killing stuff in one hit means you don't have to spend as much time or effort getting a second hit in. You can also kill things faster and get more exp, so grinding takes less time. To that goal, combat mastery and skills that boost STR like final hit, smash, and carpentry would be your main skills to focus on. Of note, you can safely put refine off til after working on these skills, if you want to get to your main goal sooner.
  
  While working on your skills, you'll also want to spend some time, money, and effort improving your gear. As a general rule of thumb, if you can buy something to improve your equipment do so. the time you spend trying to make it yourself could be spent leveling and earning gold. Also, shoot at the beginning to keep maintenance (repairs) to a minimum. Do not fall into the trap of thinking armor will save you either. 1 point of defense only stops 1 damage. Learn to fight so you don't get hit at all. Aside from your weapons, you can go naked. If something doesn't improve your offense, it will cost money to repair, so shouldn't be worn. If you're self conscious about running around in your undies, keep your newbie gear on as it only costs 1 gold per point of durability to repair.
  
  Some equipment goals to shoot for: get 2 Gladius swords. Learn about upgrading and proficiency, and imrpove those for max damage (other guides and the wiki are great research for you).
  
  Get equipment with enchants on them that improve your damage. A hat does nothing to help you, and will cost money to repair if you wear it. But if that hat has enchants on it that improve your damage, then you kill things faster, and it becomes worth it to wear that hat. Same for gloves, shoes, etc. Some cheap to buy enchants are Fox/giant items (may want to learn more about enchants; prefixes and suffixes if you don't already know. Basicly each item of equipment can hold two enchants on it).
  
  Learn about criticals. Part of the essential early skills you'll notice is critical hit skill. Your goal should be to get 30% critical with your equipped weapons and gear. Your gladius swords won't have great critical, but having ranked WM, critical hit, and some other skills up that improve your Will stat, you should have some OK crit. Get a Stiff enchanted tailcap (gives +10% crit and is a hat) and that should help a lot. If you find you need more crit to reach 30%, you can get "sharp" enchants really cheaply and easily to put on other pieces of gear (another prefix). Criticals, and maintaining the ability to hit them as often as possible, will help your offense greatly.
  
  Learn about balance. This will become more important once you get towards the "mid-game" area. Basically, more powerful weapons can dish out more damage, but will have low balance, so you won't hit their max damage as often. Your gladii will have good minimum damage and balance on their own, so this won't be a worry at the beginning. But at some point you'll want to raise your dex (which is where the refine skill becomes important, along with other skills after it). Dexterity, for a melee person, serves the purpose of improving your balance. If you can have a high balance (80% preferable) with weapons that don't have a lot built-in, you can use high-damage weapons and still have good balance.
  
  In summary, get your two gladius, a stiff-enchanted tailcap, and put enchants like fox and giant on your other stuff. stick with that for awhile, and you'll have some good damage while training your essential skills and the stuff you do after.