I've been meaning to write up a post of this kind for a while. I'm not really happy with how it's turned out so far, but I'm going to toss it up here as a starting point for discussion on what kinds of things might be changed or added.

• Be vigilant, and be paranoid.
  
  
  • Once you're in the PK levels, strive to have every detect available to you up constantly.
    
  
  
  • If detect invis isn't part of your class abilities, it may be difficult to maintain at low levels; do what you can at the times it seems most necessary.
    
  
  
  • For any detect that you don't have, try to cultivate allies that do have it that can help you know who might be lurking.
    
  
  
  • When in doubt, move like someone's chasing you, and prepare like someone's about to attack you. For example, if a thief could be lurking hidden outside your guild trying to trip you and fly is one of your class abilities, use it before walking outside!
    
  
  
  • Check where a lot and have a good sense of who's around you and where they're going.
    
  
  
  • If someone you don't know and you're not pretty sure for one reason or another isn't hostile is running right towards you, assume they're trying to murder you and react accordingly.
    
  
  
  • If you can't get into your guild or other relatively safe location because you're too bloody, when possible, keep moving!
    
  
  
  • Check who group or who pk often -- even stealth classes like thieves, assassins, and rangers that you might not be able to see much of the time will need to be visible occasionally. Knowing who's out there can give you an edge in surviving.
    
  
  
  
  



• Learn constantly.
  
  
  
  • Logging your fights may be a good idea. Combat can go by too quickly for a new player to pick up on all the nuances of what's happening, and reviewing your fights at your leisure later may help you pick out important details that you missed, details that can help you do better the next time.
    
  
  
  • Knowledge of the world is vastly important. It will take time to pick up every secret of every area, and no one will ever really get there, but the more you know, the better off you are. Knowing where a piece of armor that few know about can be an advantage in PK, as can knowing how to get a locked door between you and an assailant, as can knowing an extra way out of an area. Feel free to seek out maps or people to show you around an area to help get you started, but know also that in the heat of a player vs. player battle there's no substitute for having the level of familiarity that only comes from working your own way around an area a few times.
    
  
  
  • Knowledge of the specialization options to each class and the various skills and spells a class can bring to bear against you can also be important; it gives you an idea of how they may try to fight you. There's too much there to absorb it all right away -- consider asking allies or groupmates what they consider to be the most dangerous abilities to your character to get started.
    
  
  
  • Every kind of character will have tough match-ups or hard skills to deal with. Keep in mind what these feel like for the character you're playing -- this will be very useful in the future. If your assassin really struggles with axe-wielding warriors, later on when you're playing a warrior you might try to get out some axes to fight assassin enemies. Either you'll figure out that, yes, this is a good way to get an edge in this match-up, or you'll figure out what you could have been doing as the assassin to counter it. Whichever the outcome, you've grown as a player.
    
  
  
  • It's fun to theorize about what could handle what in a given match-up; however, there's no substitute for actually trying it out. If there's something that seems unbeatable to you, there's no better way to find the flaws in your theory than to play that and put it into action.
    
  
  
  
  • Although aligning yourself with (and hopefully joining) a cabal will make you enemies and almost certainly get you killed, it's also a great way to make friends with much more experienced players who can help your learning considerably.
    
  
  
  
  • Don't be too quick to delete a character that struggles, in PK or otherwise. Probably, everything you try will feel weak at the start.
  
  
  
  
  



• Be humble.
  
  
  
  • You're new to a game with many players that have been around for years. This doesn't make you stupid. This doesn't mean you can't get an edge on someone -- probably, in your first hundred hours of play, you'll figure out at least one thing that people who have been playing the game for ten years don't know, there's just too much out there for everyone to figure out everything -- but it does mean you should err on the side of humility.
    
  
  
  • Feel encouraged to post logs of your fights for other players to critique. Take this criticism with a grain of salt; some of the players who talk the loudest know the least. Equally, if another player points out something stupid you did, be open to admitting you made a mistake and plan to correct it in the future. You can argue on the forums until your fingers snap off, but the game doesn't care -- if you're still making the same mistakes, they'll keep getting you killed whether you admit they're mistakes or not.
    
  
  
  • Accept that you don't know everything yet. If other people can kick a lot of ass with a class and you just die a lot, the problem probably isn't with the class. Understand that you aren't the first person to take character type X up against character type Y, and that given different players X has probably beaten Y a hundred times, even if the fight seems insurmountable to you.
    
  
  
  • Don't make excuses for your losses. It is nearly impossible to tell someone why you should have won a fight or why their win is somehow cheapened and not come off as a sore loser or a whiner. Sorry, but this is just the way it is. Also, making the excuses keeps you from understanding the mistakes you made. Again, the game doesn't care that you think it's cheap that someone killed you while you were distracted/hurt/practicing/too low level/whatever -- if you keep leaving those openings for other players when you don't have to, you will keep on losing because of it. It is nearly impossible to die in CF without making some kind of mistake, even if that mistake is as simple as "I should have been more aware of my surroundings so that giant warrior couldn't get the drop on my invoker."
    
  
  
  
  • Don't criticize the roleplay of others. Certainly you shouldn't do this at all in game, even in thinly veiled pseudo-IC speech form -- there is no way to criticize someone else's roleplay without compromising your own roleplay. (Ideally, don't try to do it at all on the forums or OOC either, at least for your first year or so of play.) Instead, react as your character would.
    
  
  
  
  • Don't overstate your PK success or general toughness outside the game. Ideally, don't talk about it at all. Everyone is new here at some point; everyone will be on the bottom of the PK totem pole at some point. There's no shame in this. If by your third character you're holding your own, no one will remember that your first one was a punching bag. However, if your first character was a punching bag and you bragged about all the people you killed, everyone will remember that once the truth comes out in a PBF.
    
  
  
  
  
  



• Plan ahead.
  
  
  
  • Most characters should carry at least one return potion and at least one teleport potion at all times. If you lose or use it, make replacing it a priority.
    
  
  
  • Have enough food, water, and money on hand for whatever you're undertaking.
    
  
  
  
  • You don't need every prep item under the sun for every fight. Conversely, understand what really is important and will make a difference. For example, if you think an opponent can win easily by tripping you, be flying.
    
  
  
  
  • If you don't have an idea of how you'll win a fight, get out of there. Don't hang around for a while and see how things go. This is a sure way to die. Understand that no plan survives contact with the enemy and be ready to amend your strategy on the fly, but at least go in with a rough idea of what it would take for you to win or lose the fight. You don't have to run away from every fight you don't start, but this is not the worst idea until you begin to learn what your character and others are capable of doing.
    
  
  
  
  • You will never have as good of gear for a fight as you want. Accept this and learn to do the best you can with what you have to work with -- after all, the fastest way to get a bunch of good armor is to kill someone who already has it! Become good at re-equipping to a servicable level for your character from scratch without the help of others -- at the least, you should be able to come up with return and teleport potions, a detect invis solution if you need one, food and water, a way to see in the dark if you need one, and some basic weapons and/or a shield before your ghost period is up. Obviously, your allies can help speed-up your recovery immensely when available. Having some cash in the bank before your death, when possible, is also a big help to getting back into fighting shape quickly.
    
  
  
  
  • Much is made by some veteran players of high skills, good equipment, and/or heavy use of prep items winning fights. These things are both true and not true. It's important to realize that PK in CF isn't like PvP in some games, where all combatants will be fighting in an arena or other neutral territory and all will be equally ready to fight. If anything, fights in CF where all combatants are ready for a fight are the exception, not the rule -- nearly always, someone will be more wounded from a previous fight, or not have time to prepare, or not have a set of weapons ideal for fighting the other player, or have more allies, or be in terrain that favors their class or attack strategy, or... you get the idea. Part of the art of the game and a great equalizer of many matchups is in choosing the fights that favor you and avoiding the ones that disfavor you too much. If you really think your low level shapeshifter can't beat the warrior coming for her, be vigilant and escape when he approaches. If your thief can't face that anti-paladin in a 'fair' fight and win, use stealth to choose a moment to strike when she's already weakened. If the only winning strategy you can think of for your ranger to beat a conjurer involves fighting in the mountains, make sure to lure them there, and so on.
    
  
  
  
  
  

Have a plan!

Check who is on your pk list every so often, and have a plan for what you'll do if they attack/approach you.

It might be:
- run a mile,
- use skill X,
- flee and teleport.

That way, if they do surprise you, you won't waste valuable time trying to make a decision. For a veteran, acting decisively without advance warning is easy. For a newer player, it isn't, especially with the adrenaline flowing.

If you already know what you are going to do, you'll be far more likely to do it before it becomes too late.

The advice is much appreciated, it would be a great topic to anchor to the top. Along with the others we will soon have a newbie bible.

Check who group and who pk often so you know what kind of opposition is out there.

Thieves, assassins and rangers have to come out of hiding every once in awhile. If you see a thief or assassin, you might want to avoid Galadon and the square of Galadon, Tir-talath, voralian city and hamsah as they tend to stalk around here.

Likewise, if you see a ranger that could be hostile, avoid the wilderness areas especially if you are a dwarf, duergar, conjurer or anything that outlanders dislike as many rangers are outlander oriented(not all).

Also, read up on the cabals, races and classes so you know what they are all about, I didn't when I started and until I understood I had a difficult time. At the minimum, know that Scion and Empire, Duergar, Dark elves and Fire giants are evil.

If you play a hiding/stealth class, find out who can see you. Duergar, other thieves, and assassins along with Tribunals can see hidden, I think. Thieves cannot see assassins hiding in the wilderness, but rangers can as long as it isn't plains.

Learn a bit about each class such as aps, necros, thieves, assassins and bards can sleep you. Some classes can deafen you so you can't cast,etc.

Good point. I'll add that.

Everyone knows about this. Even newbie can figure that detect invis is good or its nice to have return potion in sack.

But doing all this is quite boring. I better die with all my crappy gear on 16th rank than spend an hour getting potion of return. And I hate the idea to gather preps for hours and hours and then just spend them in half hour of raid/reraid routine. That is why I am just average in PK

Those, who strive to be deadly or who know how to get things quickly and easily - they do. But your post does not help other to do the same.

In battle the newbie just gets adrenaline boost and forgots about every advices spamming skills/spells or doing it wrong.

For helping newbies be better in PK I should do such things:
write small newbie guides for each class. or post faqs from Dio.

make some training "PK" battles with pseudo-PKiller mobs, who will be doing common "PK-routine" for their class.

Lets say, it will be small arena where you will have hiding assassin-mob, who will blind/kote/kan you + flee/hide and such.

Try to defeat him.

That is how I see the picture.

So getting it isn't a bad advice.

Personally, I think that Nep wrote a pretty good basic newbie PK FAQ. It's a good post on goals of self development in CF's PK.

I dont know how to get it in 10 minutes (well, I never bothered even, because I did not know it is possible even). I think most newbies dont too.

So, instead of telling "its worthy to have return potion" (its not as difficult as nuclear physic to understand this, I understood this after my first or second death, actually) the real help will be telling HOW to get it quickly on lowbies. But it will be OOC and I dont want such kind of help.

Raising of that amount doesn't take an awfully long time. Just gather up a few reasonably valuable items and sell them. According to my quick test, it takes about 10 minutes for the whole deal.

>I dont know how to get it in 10 minutes (well, I never
>bothered even, because I did not know it is possible even).
This last statement you made about not even knowing it is possible explains why so many disagree with your outlook.
I
>think most newbies dont too.
>
>So, instead of telling "its worthy to have return potion" (its
>not as difficult as nuclear physic to understand this, I
>understood this after my first or second death, actually) the
>real help will be telling HOW to get it quickly on lowbies.
>But it will be OOC and I dont want such kind of help.

You aren't going to be spoon fed information on how to do things. The next thing that will happen is that you will say that so and so imm told me to do it this way and it still failed so it needs to be fixed. That's not how it works. If you have only been playing for a year or two and you run across someone who has 10+ years of experience, I don't care what manual you have, chances are you will get tooled. That's just the way it is.

If you're saying this:
Everyone knows about this. Even newbie can figure that detect invis is good or its nice to have return potion in sack.

But doing all this is quite boring. I better die with all my crappy gear on 16th rank than spend an hour getting potion of return. And I hate the idea to gather preps for hours and hours and then just spend them in half hour of raid/reraid routine. That is why I am just average in PK

I'd say a significant portion of what Nep wrote is very valuable advice to you. Specifically, recognizing that you are somewhat inexperienced, and that this inexperience is why you have "crappy gear", and why it takes you "an hour" to acquire a return potion. You're making those limitations inherent to the game, when really they're on you.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

>and that this inexperience is why you have "crappy gear"

Be so kind, point my nose exactly to advice in his post, where he told how to get good* gear on 15th rank as a mage, without being lucky enough to find hero's corpse with shinies, or some high lvl friends and such?

I will be very thankful.

*good means "limited" or "hard to get". fine leather stuff + sandy cloaks + all such stuff dont counts.

>why it takes you "an hour" to acquire a return potion
I just supposed. Never ever tried to take it on lowbies. Okay, let it be half hour. Point my nose to his advice, where he told how actually get it quickly?

Not stuff like "be vigilant" or "have detections and protections up" or such. How to get return potion fast and cheap and easy. Please.

Answer on unasked questions: No. I almost never die on lowbie-midbie ranks, unless I make character for PK/fun and simply dont care about him.

Be so kind, point my nose exactly to advice in his post, where he told how to get good* gear on 15th rank as a mage, without being lucky enough to find hero's corpse with shinies, or some high lvl friends and such?

Summarized under the section marked "Learn constantly." Insert standard adage about handing you a fish vs. teaching you how to fish.

Nepenthe wasn't trying to write down every fact he ever learned about the game. He was outlining a general philosophy on how to succeed, and the mindset he's describing is a bigger help to any new player than any list of factoids.

The rest is details.

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

If you know all this, why did you post a thread a few days ago about how barrier is unbeatable? :)

Maybe this needs some more concrete advice, but I think it needs things more in the form of:

"From level X on, you should be able to get a potion of return in five minutes. If you can't do this, this is a goal for you to work on." This is implied by my saying that you should be able to come up with that plus several things more as a ghost from nothing, but it might not be obvious enough.

Essentially, you're playing a game against a bunch of people for whom getting any number of return potions in a short amount of time isn't even something that requires thought. There isn't some secret unified way to do this, and I bet if I asked ten different players how they do it I'd get at least eight fairly divergent answers -- but it's a problem that most players have solved, and until newbies have solved it (and some of the others), they are forever going to struggle to compete.

>If you know all this, why did you post a thread a few days
>ago about how barrier is unbeatable? :)
Because "to know" and "to do or ba able to use" are much, much different things :)

It is what makes the difference between seminewbie and vet :)


>"From level X on, you should be able to get a potion of return in five minutes. If you can't do this, this is a goal for you to work on." This is implied by my saying that you should be able to come up with that plus several things more as a ghost from nothing, but it might not be obvious enough.


Exactly. That will be good advice.

>There isn't some secret unified way to do this,

Well, the more I play CF the more I realize that I know soooo little about the game. I mean its huge game, and someone knows one thing, someone knows another.

Some days ago I made a topic on dios, asking if this possible to get 3-5-7 gold before lvl 10-14 for such potions. I was suprised when many told me that its pretty easy to do and such.

So, now at least I _know_ that this is possible. Same with sleeks. I just did not know about them at all. Hmm, I lost my point...Ah!

I think, if you wish to make newb's life easier, give him way to have some practice (that Simon quest is very good, but need more, and for PK too!). And make some short (or not short) guides for each class.

Like for invoker:
beware of bash/trip/lash etc
seek sleeks and preps
some hints about practicing spells


And for your current advices you can just support them with more info. For example "Be vigilant, and be paranoid. "
Spam "where" like hell! To make it easier make alias {whe; some skill or spell you use in ranking}

"Once you're in the PK levels, strive to have every detect available to you up constantly." if you have not detect invis, you can search for preps in game.

"Get potion of return" You should be able to get it easily from 15th rank. Figure how *wink*

and so on. But I am not sure if its worthy to give such advices here, they are a bit closer to spoilers

but the other part of "beig newbie"...I dont know how to deal with it, or should you at all? I mean lazyness and fun. Good PKillers good not only because of skills, but they do less mistakes, they strive to be prepped, they search and gather preps and such.

Many peoples and me too are just lazy :)

My advice for the newer player would never include "seek sleeks and preps".

I would say that there are protective wands that will be useful if you ever find them.

Advice-wise though, I would tell someone to concentrate on learning the layouts of a few areas perfectly. That alone is often enough to keep you alive against even a vet. If you can move perfectly around the battlefield, or the holy grove, or even eastern road, you will immediately reap the benefits as you can move to those areas when threatened.

Worked for me, anyway, when I was new. I might have only known 5% of the mud, but I knew it at least as well as any, and probably better than most vets. I mean, be honest, how many vets can navigate perfectly around the battlefield and run someone down who is able to cut through the hedges etc.?

>I mean, be honest, how
>many vets can navigate perfectly around the battlefield and
>run someone down who is able to cut through the hedges etc.?

I can't. I still suck in that area, though I kill people there all the time.

barrier is unbeatable!

Just knowning it is possible should be enough in my opinion. If I had known it was possible back when I started, I would have made it a point to ask around, within the game, to find out how to do it. Reading how to do it in a FAQ holds no appeal to me. I like to either figure something out myself in game or atleast have someone help me figure it out in game.

As far as the rest of what Nep wrote, again, these are all big mistakes I made when I first started. I would stick around in a fight I didn't start, thinking I would learn more. Eventually I realized I can not learn much from a flight I only lasted 2 rounds in. Seeing that fire giant running down Eastern road, and thinking to myself "I have never met or did anything to him, what do I have to worry about?" Only to have him come up and bash me down and quickly. It took me two characters to figure out "just because I don't know them doesn't mean they don't want to kill me." Now I assume EVER person I see in EVER area I am in wants to kill me unless I have a very good reason to believe they don't. And even then I'm still proceeding carefully.

I have been that guy who got crushed by an axe wielding giant, so I made one myself thinking I will crush others! Only to get beat on more than a red headed step child.

It is true there is no better way to learn than by doing, but I think the FAQ that Nep made will be something that can only help a new player greatly. Anymore info in it would have been just too much. Somethings you just need to learn for yourself.

>Everyone knows about this. Even newbie can figure that detect
>invis is good or its nice to have return potion in sack.
>
>But doing all this is quite boring. I better die with all my
>crappy gear on 16th rank than spend an hour getting potion of
>return. And I hate the idea to gather preps for hours and
>hours and then just spend them in half hour of raid/reraid
>routine. That is why I am just average in PK
Actually, if it is taking you an hour to get preps, you are still inexperienced and you need to work on that part of the game. Otherwise, you will still be trying to reach that next level of pk.
>
>Those, who strive to be deadly or who know how to get things
>quickly and easily - they do. But your post does not help
>other to do the same.
I don't think spoon feeding anyone is teaching them anything. You need to go out and do it for yourself. It will only make you better.
>
>In battle the newbie just gets adrenaline boost and forgots
>about every advices spamming skills/spells or doing it wrong.
>
And that's part of the game you need to learn to control.
>For helping newbies be better in PK I should do such things:
>write small newbie guides for each class. or post faqs from
>Dio.
There are countless situations and there isn't any guide that is going to be good enough to answer that. Experience is a much better than a book full of ifs, ands or buts.
>
>make some training "PK" battles with pseudo-PKiller mobs, who
>will be doing common "PK-routine" for their class.
>
There are many mobs that are not just generic. There are all classes. Is the machine going to counter the other players moves? No.
>Lets say, it will be small arena where you will have hiding
>assassin-mob, who will blind/kote/kan you + flee/hide and
>such.
There are plenty of hidden mobs like that. You might not see them if you can't see hidden though.
>
>Try to defeat him.
>
>That is how I see the picture.
Not realistic from a coding view though.