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A tip for new players
BigRock411
Member Posts: 299
If your starting the game out, do yourself a favor, become familair with at least two builds, be it with 3 weapons or 4...become familair with the gear managment (which works better as a skill saver more than a gear equipped saver atm needs a bit of work imo).
You want a group specific role, be it full tank/heals/dps and you want an off build for soloing. Start it early, it will slow starter progression however in the long run youll speed past people who sunk their points in one role, who now have to run dungeons/pvp or go back for missed content so they can successfully solo later on.
Since most will choose the "best" dps they can...DPS is a pain for finding a group (unless you start your own) being able to heal or tank means instant groups...but also straight DPS has difficulty later on, especially when multiple pulls means death.
My advice would be to add a weapon with heals on attack, be it assault rifle leeches, bloods barriers and straight heals, or fists heals on attack and become familair with it early as a slower killing but high survivability spec, then start to aquire gear that isnt straight dps..to give you some survivability.
The hardest part later on isnt really getting the points to make a new build, its the experementation with what goes into the builds thats a pain, especially when your not familair with the weapon and its skills or how they all work together.
I will also add that healing and tanking seem very forgiving in this game,specifically in dungeons... dont be afraid of either
But picking two weapons and finding a great skill set for the first 2-3 maps will mean its going to be a difficult adjustment later on when you find out you need a secondary damage type and skill set...get familair with a few early it will make later on an easier adjustment.
Comments
Second this. Seems people are afraid of the responsibility that comes with healing, if you want to get loot fast and win in PvP, do yourself a favor and have a heal spec at the ready for those times where it's needed. And if you join the right cabal, they'll probably let you need roll on DPS gear even if you're healing for them
Also: Tanking is *not* forgiving in Nightmares... But only 1% are doing that at the moment.
Well, im not talking nightmare...since by the time you get there you should be VERY familair with whatever role your playing.
Back on topic, i just wished i had started off with 4 weapons right in kingsmouth...kingsmouth and savage coast are very forgiving and a great place to learn the ropes of any weapon or build.
Also, starting anew build and new weapons in blue mountain, the place where weak builds come to life and are obvious, it can be very fustrating trying to formulate a new skill set and new weapons given the content is less forgiving.
As much as i want to go back, i feel that i would have to downgrade gear to get the right mix of difficulty needed to really test my build out, if that makes sense. My current main build of pistols and shotgun work pretty well, its just i need a back up build and preferably id like a secondary dungeon role.
You might spend an extra few days in kingsmouth or savage coast doing this but it will mean once you hit egypt you wont have to learn the ropes on a new build in a setting that isnt forgiving..
I've got to transylvania on one build (Illusionist) and decided to try another (necromancer) The skills are very foreign to me. But, I just double back and do the easy content to learn (polaris)
Thanks for this advice, i'd read elsewhere that pure dps was a problem when looking for groups. I also sunk all my points into elementalism only thinking i'd need to fill up the wheel to survive Kingsmouth (which I didn't need to do), but fortunately i've also just started assault rifle so i'll focus on heals with that. I haven't quite finished in Kingsmouth yet so maybe i'll stick around and build assault rifle before moving on.
Also started an alt with Blood to begin with so I can go healer and get groups later.
Since it is difficult to know what's best early on and alts aren't really an option in this game, a chance to respec (even at some cost) would be nice...
So is elementalism good for heals?
No it's dps, I think I need to combine it with assault rifle for some self heals.
the forms of heals currently are blood magic using cast on target barriers (damage absorbs) that come with a heal attached, as well as other heal spells...its the warlock DOT and Healer spec of the game in traditional form.
Fist offer heals over time (yourself) on attack, assault rifle offers damage leech effect.
Elementalism is your typical mage skillset.
The key to a pair of weapons that jive well is knowing what effects the two share that is the same, not that you cant chose weapons with no sharing effect, like i chose pistol and shotgun and its a fantastic close quarters range dps build.
This was taken from someone elses post on the official forums found here:http://forums.thesecretworld.com/showthread.php?t=27633
This post is also a fantastic resource on making builds that play of eachother.
The chart is used like this: take assult rifle and blood magic, they both share an affliction aspec, which is a DOT effect, you could then look through the passives of blood and assault rifle to find passives and actives that put an affliction on the target or give additional effect when affliction is applied...and even branch out into a 3rd weapon set that uses affliction and steal a passive that might add another effect when the target is afflicted. There are passives that add effects when a certian conditon is met, the various conditions be they DOT, CC, orwhat stat the weapon focuses on (like if you get a penetration shot or a crit).
You can ignore the met conditions and their passives if you choose or choose to embrace one specifically ect...its up to you.
Just a small note about the Gearmanager and swapping decks:
You don't need to click through all the Character menu options to load saved Decks.
Typing "/gearmanager use <deckname>" in chat will activate a deck. In fact, all the Gearmanager operations can be done via the chatbox commands (type "/help gearmanager" for further info). If you have a G15 keyboard or similar, you can make single-button deck swaps.
First, I really hope this game makes it, and does really well, we need more competition in mmorpgs these days.
But...
The thought of once again being pigeon holed into a tank or healer again just to get into a group and get loot, makes me glad I can't play TSW.
What happens when you log off your characters????.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFQhfhnjYMk
Dark Age of Camelot
My tip to new players would have been not to play. This is the FIRST and ONLY mmo i've ever purchased that I can't bring myself to continue playing.
SWTOR I managed to finish all the way to max level and do some instances.
RIFT, max level and some instances and i've gone back a few times
TERA, I might not have made max level actually but I got damn close!
The list goes on...
TSW, First build was horrible (blood + several different weapons all sucked). I deleted and made a new character, went full ele and destroyed everything. Quests I struggled with were simple. I no longer attempted to bypass monsters, I killed everything easily and quickly. I died less... The healing specs are so useless unless you have + healing gear which means your damage is horrible.
If you manage to find joy in this game, the best tip I can provide I guess would also be to have a tank or healing build or finding a group is going to suck. This is pretty standard for any MMO these days. Hopefully GW2 changes things and anyone can find a group anytime!
Please dont derlail my Tips for new players with your reasons for disliking the game, make your own thread about why you hate TSW or add to one of the many already made...thanks
Any game that pretends to not have "tank" roles is just full of it. You mean to tell me that if a warrior and an elementalist in GW2 come-up to an elite mob the Elementalist should fire the first shot and get aggro? Good luck with that.
Now add a Thief to that group... don't you think the Elementalist switching to Water might make more sense than Fire for better heal support? ... presto! Trinity.
I've played GW2 beta enough to know that even there, with the best thought out and implemented non-trinity system to date, virtual trinities still exist.
At least in TSW as others said you can be any of the 3 roles yourself by a simple skill swap any time you're not in combat. Think of it as being able to be a Warrior or an Ele or a Thierf or Mesmer...whatever, by flipping a switch.
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
I have often seen this complaint in this forum. Given that you cannot be "pigeonholed" when you can learn all the skills on one character, I can only assume that many people are having difficulty in grasping how skills work in TSW.
Or else they want to be able to tank/dps/heal with any skill THEY choose to learn. Perhaps they don't want to "waste time" getting the AP for multiple skills, because then they wouldn't be able to "reach level cap" in 3 weeks ?
Corrently trying to unlock the deck MArtial Artist , from the skills unlocked I have 2 builds one for soloing and one for tanking. I use tanking gear for soloing up until know its a life saver. You can try to have an Aoe build for soloing easy mobs and a strong single target for boss and though enemies.
Tip:
-Add a waypoint to any place you find a side mission
- Some side mission are easy xp and most can be done on your way to other mission.
-Black house is scary and if you go there when you are dead...
-Into darkness is probably the best mission in an MMO, scary as hell.
-Don't post spoilers on general chat
- Investigation mission are really fun and will make you think alot, don't ask for help until you are really stuck
"you are like the world revenge on sarcasm, you know that?"
One of those great lines from The Secret World
Wow this is a great thread! Thanks to everyone for the links and sharing your knowledge.
You can create "mini bags" by clicking on the "+" icon in your inventory. They can be placed anywhere on the gui.
These have 10 slots each, and can be "locked" to stay useable when you close the inventory.
Great for potions and mission clickables.
Re: starting builds
1. Take your time and experiment. There is no race to the finish line.
2. Mob density in some places may be higher than you're used to in other MMOs. A pure DPS build will have a hard time dealing with those inevitable adds especially if you're not extremely careful kiting.
3. Start out with a build including a tankish weapon (blade, chaos, hammer) plus a healing one (rifle, fists, blood.)
4. Before you build special purpose specs, you're better off emphasizing AOE over single target. Trash packs are more likely to kill you than individual elites.
5. Talismans give you most of your ability to tank, heal or DPS.
5. Keep a full set of tank (+health), heal (+ heal power) and DPS (+attack power) talismans. A good solo mix of talismans is 50:50 heal/DPS... with greens that is. Blue and purple talismans have single-purpose stats, they're better for instances where you'll have a more defined role. If you use blues soloing, modify the 50:50 above by adding 1 or 2 tank + health talismans.
6. By the time you're ready to do the first instance, build a spec that falls squarely into one of tank, healer, DPS. DPS can have extra healing support skills but your emphasis should be nearly 100% DPS talismans.
7. Take a look at the 3 Green non-weapon dependent skill wheels. There are some good aggro, de-root and heals there. The 640+ self-heal in particular is a handy solo skill to pick-up early. I even slot that one in my DPS instance build to take pressure off healers in those "oh shit, I can't bellieve I just did that" moments.
8. Passive abilities can be from any weapon without needing to slot that weapon. Most good builds will have passives from other weapons that complement yours. There are some passive gems out there.
I started out soloing with blades/rifle and have found that very solid for the first 3 zones. I may not be the fastest DPSer but my extra survivability more then makes up for it--especially when you get a couple of adds.
But for instance DPS, I use an Elementalist/whatever (blood and rifles I've used) build. Its DPS potential is much, much higher than AR or blades.
The only inner wheels I haven't unlocked so far are chaos and hammers... I have lots of reward jackets to choose from
“Microtransactions? In a single player role-playing game? Are you nuts?”
― CD PROJEKT RED
From the original post its like other games. If you aren't a healer or a tank, be ready to wait forever for a group, no one wants you if you're dps.
I'm not knocking the game, it's like that in many games I've played and I despised having to roll a healer or tank to be able to enjoy the content. I just won't play a game like that again.
What happens when you log off your characters????.....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFQhfhnjYMk
Dark Age of Camelot
I made the mistake of trying to fill a deck with my first character.. Got to a point where i was undergeared for the Hell Raised dungeon and soloing was getting too difficult.
Now i started a new character and i'm going to fill the inner circle first.
The biggest difference between TSW and a lot of other games being that it doesn't take that much to have an alternate build that is ok at healing. As a friend said to me: I was doing this Elemental/Blood build going for DPS when I ended up as a healer for Polaris (the first dungeon). Just swap out some abilities and talismans and you are good to go - at least with the early game dungeons.
Personally, I like just creating my own group if I want to do a dungeon. For the classic setup, you need at least three DPS, so why shouldn't you be one of them?
Gear rolls in dungeons are....interesting because of all of this.
I'd like to add to my previous post...If you are melee, get a ranged build and vice versa. I made it all the way to the second part of Transylvania then the...err this would be a lot easier if I had ranged...kicked in. Then...a certain quest...crap....I HAVE to have ranged.
You have noticed you can drag the bottom right corner of the mini-bag to make it any size you like, right?
You can also rename them.
I have one bag for runes, one for materials and one for kits. The starting bag is just whatever is new.
why are people restarting ( rerolling ) characters if they dont like the build ?
I thought it was possible to fill out the entire wheel or is there only so many points you are allowed to spend ?
People are "re-rolling" because they don't understand how TSW works. There is no cap on spending or earning SP or AP.
Let's say you get 3M XP from doing all the quests in Kingsmouth. If you then decide you don't like your build, you re-roll and do all of Kingsmouth again. You now still have 3M XP, but you've spent them where you want them.
Instead of re-rolling, just do all of the quests in Kingsmouth a second time on the same character (you'll be repeating them anyway on a new character). Now your character has 5M XP (a few quests are not repeatable), and access to a whole range of possibly useful passive skills from other weapons.
People are use to re-roll when something goes wrong.
"you are like the world revenge on sarcasm, you know that?"
One of those great lines from The Secret World