Hi all, I looked around the newbie forum and I realised newbies like Tan and others have asked a lot of questions (Tan had three posts) but I think in a way they really haven't recieved much help. I am a newbie in CF as well, but I used to do well in other MUDs. So after I got four characters going past level 25-30 (followed by delete to try other classes and races) I got some ideas for survival in CF. Please note I am still a newbie and I always will be for the next year or so playing CF (a lot of learning), I do feel the pain of being a newbie and I want to write something to help Tan and others. I also want to see some feedbacks to my current experience, it would help my gameplay as well.

CF is different than popular muds in the TMS site because it has a buttload of PK, and amazingly, RP comes with PK (this is perhaps debatable). So the environment in CF is very intense. (being evil does mean something in this mud)

Most newbs face 3 things at beginning:
1.money
2.equipment
3.PK (and the above two things after being pKed)

Leveling is not much of an issue in CF, I think people level too fast (faster than any other MUDS) But you have to watch out for Pkers in leveling.

Firstly, Let's talk about a good class/race for newbs. I believe Tan has tried all of them and most of them being neutral, but I think I understand his problem, this I will come back to later.

I think the best class/race for a newb is assassin/human. People more experienced than me have more to say, but from experience I think this is good combo, and I willing to accept feedbacks on this. Why this combo? for one thing, newbs can hide from a majority of the playerbase. secondly, assassin can detect hidden and invis, which is helpful. Thirdly, assassin can to ranking on a solo basis. Fourthly in group ranking, assassin can tank with endure on. My character got good items (not common and not uber just above the average which is all you need to survive in this game) and with endure on, my character is divinely armored, this makes him a good blocker.

Align: I beleive newbs have to make a neutral character. This will REALLY improve their suvival. Here is why and this answers Tan's question. If you are good aligned newbie, you are guaranteed to face PKers. If you are neutral newbie, you are still guaranteed to face PKers. Tan thought that by selecting a neutral character, eg. human/assassin will not face PKers, he is obviously wrong. WHat he missed out on is interaction and RP. People will not know that your human is neutral, altho some of them can detect align, not everybody will know. Here is what I propose to do and that is...................................................................TALK TO PEOPLE,by people I mean EVERYBODY. If you are neutral then I think you should really build up your relationship with ALL THE PLAYERS especially evil characters. You can still talk to good people, but merely grouping with goodies is enough. Goodies do not pk people, not as often, but evil characters do. At times, one should do WHO PK, and because human/assassin can see the necros and APs, you try to chat them up: 'Greetings, o the dark one, I see that you are out causing bloodshed in the elven city, mind I join you?' or simply ask them questions, but always be the first one to talk to them. As a neutral (and this I checked with the imms) you can talk to APs and group with them, no probs. I have learnt that as a newb, you have to learn from the veterans of the game. Guess what, most of the evil characters are veterans, that's why they can PK because they know the game inside and out. THis is no secret, if you want to be strong, talk to them, group with them and LEARN THE GAME. That's what I always do. You treat any AP with respect, and he will show you the game.

THere are few benefits to my long passage above. 1. YOu may/will recieve less pk, but not guaranteed. I find that I have a higher chance of being pked when group with goodies and spellcasters. But people hardly touch me when I am with evil people. Evil people do not pk evil people right? 2. People will know you, both the goodies and the evil, good for RP and grouping 3. YOU WILL LEARN THE GAME FASTER. Therefore as newbs, sadly, we do not have anything of an advantage in this game. The only thing we do have is our ability to talk. (you can call this sucking up to evil ppl, I call this the fastest way to learn)

Money issues and equipment issues: Newbs have no money why? because some of them do not treat the newb school seriously(they don't do the newbie quest) If you have done the newb quest, you would have got 1 gold. In fact even if you do not complete the newb quest you still get 1 gold. Then newbie areas such as lumberyard is very good for making money. In such areas, by killing one mob, you get 10-20 coins or around 1 silver. So build it up, level 1-10 is for solo, kill to build up your bank roll. I believe someone mentioned that you should have 5 gold by lev 5, that is possible. By doing what I have said above, I had 3 gold by lev 5. THe rest is by selling items. You really need to know all the weapon/armor shops in Galadon, Hamsah, Udgaard, Voralian, Akan (I found that Evermoon hollow is good spot too). Treat this as a real life business. You buy sacks and fill them with items found on the floor. When you are not leveling, do world trips to sell at each city. THis is business, and good money comes with business, just remeber good money comes from places where people rarely visit, hence don't expect to be able to sell staff in Galadon, seek elsewhere. YOu can learn thera better that way. Merchants have no money on them? THis is a problem, that's why you need to travel around the globe. If business is not for you, then you should found an area where you can quietly kill mobs and stockpile the most money. eg, if you kill everybody in lumberyard, I would say you can probably get more than 1 gold. Then wait for 3 min for everybody to come out, kill again for 1 gold. I learnt this from other muds. From this, you got an RL hourly wage of at least 4-5 gold. So money is not an issue. keep them in bank. buy potion of return and have 500 copper with you. That's enough for a newb. I also play at an odd time, I found that the system normally reboot in my playing time, so the merchants have their pockets refilled by then. But do not this strategy seriously as this might be illegal.

I really don't see the problem with eq and how you miss eq after pk death. Always know the source of the eq, learn that from the veterans. In contrast, this is a easy mud than others because most adequate items are found on the floor. Read up on all the areas in newbie3, do help <area name> and the description of the newbie areas contain whether this area has good items. They are the source of your starting equipments. Later on, learn from veterans. I've learnt that good mithril eqs can be found in akan. Some on the ground of the entrance, some near the castle. They are all good for newbs. If you learn the source of equipment, that is, where they come from, you can easily obtain them once you got pked. The upshot of this is that being pked is not an issue. Furthermore, you can always ask veterans, if you know them well enough, to help you get equipments you cannot obtain, of course you may have to pay 1 gold or two, but it helps you.

From my experience, for someone's first time in CF, the key for survival is not about avoiding pk, or try to level past lev 30. The key is to talk to veterans, learn from them, and go on from there. My favourite place in the game is the inn where I do most of my learning, what about you newbs?

This is my first post on the forum, the rules said that you can not talk about areas extensively, so I am not sure whether I have done the right thing by talking about some areas above, if not edit my post. I am still not that good in CF, hope this post helps the very new players, and I welcome all criticisms.

CF does have a lot of diffrent aspects that you will not find in many of the other muds out there. Some say that we are too hard on newbies, while others say we are too easy on them and don't respect the vets of the mud. It is a hard line to walk, but anyone willing to sit down and read the help files will have a huge jump. Taking your bumbs in stride is the second step many are not willing to accept

However we come to you, and from your well thought out post, it appears you have done just that. So I'll try to respond in point by point to your issues and see if I can't be of any help. Now remember, this is just opinion as everyone will have their own. I will provide you mine with the reasoning to back it up however.

Good Races for newbies:
First I will start with breaking down the races:
I look at races for newbies in a few catagories. Exp pen, Aligns, Vulns vs Benifits.
Exp pen is a big one because it will play a lot into your character. By selecting a race that has a low exp pen, you will find 2 bonuses. The first one being is you rank much faster then the other classes. The second one being that you dont find yourself on the lower end of a pking situation. Ie: You being 4-8 levels below the guy who is coming at you to pk. Humans, Half races, Orc

Now this brings us to Aligns. What you said is true, that if you choose a race that can be identified as good/evil there is a much greater change of being pked by those which their RP demands it. Granted there are some out there who will pk anyone and everyone but you will have that no matter what. For this option, it is often best to chose a race that is ambigious to their align, which humans, half races, arials, felars are great for.

Last on my races is that of Vulns vs Benifits. To a newbie this might seem pointless, but there will be many little things out there that play into it. Vulns to attack types (iron/mithril/water/holy etc) which will make it a pain in the ass to rank/play/pk because everyone and their mother has that weapon type. However the flip side is there are a few races out there who have great abilities that allow them an advantage over others. While there is no clear cut on this choice as we like to think most of them are balanced out..there are a few. In this case you have duergars who can see hidden which is great, and you have storm giants who have many benifits.

Putting all this together you start to see it is a bit harder then one may think however a good race that shines through it all is plain ole human. You get great stats, no vulns, no exp pen, allowed to be any align, any ethos.

Good classes for newbies.
Much like that of races, align will be a big aspect of your class. Anything that can only be one align will be more so of a target then one's which don't give away what you are. Now as well we add another target range of being a mage, or being of a class which is against any of the other cabals ideals.
A second issue much like races is exp pen. When you combine it with that of your race, you now start to see how it will take one combo a much longer time to hero then someone else. This is also how you get those human necromancers able to fight that storm giant paladin with 9 levels on them. It's a harsh fight to be in.
The next point is something that you hit on, and it is the ability to avoid pks. Being a thief/ranger/assassin/mage gives you the chance to stay hidden from view of those who could come at you via their invis/hide/camo. This is a huge bonus, however you start to get into what I was talking about others wanting to pk you for being these classes. Second of all, some of these classes also have an exp pen so you see where it starts to stack up against you. However they do also provide some benifits that even if seen/caught, you have the ability to use spells like teleport or word should things get hairy.
My last point on classes is that even while someone may an experienced mud player, if you are new to CF I would highly recommend not playing a class that requires empowerment.
So that leaves us with these classes that I would suggest as a newbie.
Warrios: all around great class, versitile, no one align and no one really hunting them out.
Thieves: again versitile in what you can do and path to go, able to hide and no exp pen.
Shapeshifter: While you have warriors hunting you out, this is a great first mage class to learn with. It doesn't require too much in the ways of gear/preping as you have your weapons with in as your forms.

Money issues
Belive it or not, it isn't being a newbie which makes it hard to collect and have funds. This is across the board as there are long time players who have just this problem. However there are a few things which can help this problem if you are having one.
Most of the locations of treasure in which have high yields of money wont be accessable until later on in your ranks, so it comes more so to scrounging around for money. My personal favorite way is to pk people who do have money and taking theirs. However this isn't always the best and viable way to accomplish such. The second way comes with finding gear and selling it to merchants across Thera. Granted the merchant you first go to might not want to buy it or have enough money, but stick it out and search for other merchants. Eventually you will find one. A last option is to barter for things. With that gear you found, if you can't sell it, barter it for the stuff you need. That black hammer vest will give you some pies, or that sword of power a few potions of return. Etc.

Pk
This wil be the last issue I address and I will just try to cover the basics as this is too wide of a topic for anyone to nail down exactly. The first and best rule of thumb I can give anyone is, if you didn't start the fight, get out of there ASAP. The person who came at you is prepared for the fight, know what they are doing and if you are in a group..good chance he has confidence in his ability to take you and them out. This is not always true..but it will get you to survive 9 times out of 10. The second piece of advise..if you are getting hurt and you've not done much to him...flee and run. There is no shame in running and living..however please for the love of us..dont then send him a tell taunting him and talking ####. You just fled while he beat your ass (I only say this because I hate it when people do that personaly)

Now should you find yourself running from a pk, there are a few things to concider. The first is always have a teleport or return potion on hand to use. Leave it out in your inventory and not in a sack, because you need that quick access and that command you take to get it out can mean your death. It is important to have both, because at some point you will come across someone who will curse you making that return potion pointless. Also, learn the areas as best as you can. Believe it or not, while some people have played here for years there are spots in areas that they can't find. They always stick to the well known traveled parts of an area and if you learn and know these, you will have the advantage in both running and tracking.

Ok, so you know when and how to run from a pk and you've built up the courage to take it to them, great! The first and most important thing to remember, never underestimate someone and their ability. Sure they may have practice weapons and #### gear...but a well played player can school someone even in such garments. Take advantage of terraine, of the environment and most importantly of your skill abilities. While some will call you a coward for hiding/camoing..that is your class. That is what you are supose to do. Don't fight their battle on their terms, fight on your own. Use everything you have avaliable to you, from your spells, skills and any preps you may have found. However be careful on the preps as it is a slick slope as if you get too hooked on them, you true pking/hunting powers seem to falter and you become dulled. You depend upon them too much and forget how to fight on your own.

Last piece of advise on pking, remember..it isn't always about command denial. I have seen people spam out and command deny a char and get their ass handed to them because he was putting out way more damage then they were.

Hopefully this will help in some way, if not oh well.

You have picked up a good amount of the game mechanics thus far, but a couple things that are misleading about the game have gotten you a bit confused

1 - Armor. Your level of protection vs slash/bash/pierce grants you a higher chance to be *missed* by low level mobs, and players with VERY low hitroll. This is not what makes certain classes good at protecting themselves. Almost always, these protections come in two ways;First, the form of damage reduction (healers/paladins/shaman get sanctuary to decrease incoming damage, most mages get varying forms of damage reduction as well). Secondly, characters defend themself using "defense skills", such as dodge, shield block and parry. Your human assassin has all three of these skills, and with all three firing off at once, you will definitely defend yourself well (once these skills have improved somewhat) .

Sidenote: You will have a use for the saves vs mental, spell, paralysis and petrification; these do not fall under my above note.

2 - Evil PK. The idea behind evils is that they want to improve themselves. Therefore they are more likely to strike out at other players without much warning, and since a lot of the better PK'ers don't always want to be restricted in who they can fight...yes, on average more of the higher skilled players will play evil. However, evils DO attack evils, if it is beneficial to them. They just see goodies as weaker often, so are more likely to attack a definite enemy that is weak, than a possible ally that may or may not be weak.

3 - Merchants : Merchants start with a limited amount of money, so the ones that do not get a lot of business will be poor often. If you can discover for yourself which ones actually get good business (hint: You mentioned always buying a return potion), find things that these merchants will purchase to make some coin. Most merchants will buy things that are similar to what they sell.

My newbie-to-newbie advice would be:

1. While there's good reason why people keep suggesting certain classes, it's important to play a character you really like. CF can be frustratingly hard. Your character should be fun enough that you're willing to pick up the pieces when you get shattered twice in a session. Continually replaying levels 1-15 is no way to enjoy the game.

2. Area knowledge is golden. Being able to navigate across the map makes you much more valuable to groups. There's also tons of great stuff available if you know where to look, and especially if you can solve some quests. When you're not levelling with a group or talking at the Inn, exploring is extremely worthwhile as well as fun.

3. While the low-level recall ability is nice for exploring, it's not so nice you want to spend ages exploring at that level. You can't see the better areas this way. Recall also tends to become less reliable as your level increases. By all means, learn a few towns, get comfy with the world map, and survey some levelling areas. But then it's time to move on without the crutch.

4. Of course, exploring can get you killed. Bring a recall item - or two if there's a chance one might fail. Reading room descriptions, looking in directions, and scanning for enemies will do wonders for your life expectancy. If you're lucky enough to find an area author's name, compare that to the area list, and see if you're where you think you are - and if you have any business being there at your level.

5. The best way to avoid PK is not to be attacked in the first place. Use "where" when you enter an area. If someone in your PK range that you don't trust is there, find someplace else to be before they notice you. Periodically check "where" as well. Don't loiter in high-traffic areas (like Galadon) in any case.

6. If you're attacked, run away. Hopefully you have a recall item to use after fleeing. But either way, you need to get somewhere you won't be found. (Guilds and the Inn will only protect you if you're relatively undamaged.) Your enemy can track you by "where" if you're both in the same area - and especially if your room name is specific! Get several areas away if you can.