[Guide] Dark Templar 1-80 Leveling

[Ajuma]

This will start from Build 2.

Levels 1-40

Originally I wanted to play a Barbarian, I made one but the class (rogues) were way too bugged to play.
I played a Guardian in Build 1, and I wanted another experience, so I made my Dark Templar, known as Blocks.
The first days of beta, the experience was moving soooo damn slow, there were alot of grinding involved in tortage to be able to recieve the next quests due to not being high enough lvl.
That changed later on, and was welcome for sure.
I got to lvl 20 and recieved my first DT skills, my two stances and it was pretty awesome.
However my excitement and joyfullness soon evaporated, I got cursed (known as Blocks Curse)
One patch later I got hit in a crash bug, didnt matter what I did, I just kept on crashing and crashing and crashing, I made a new character, which actually helped, but whenever I tried playing Blocks, I just kept on crashing.
At one point I managed to get stuck and was unable to log in at all, it just kept hanging at the loading screen, so I was unable to play Blocks for around 1 ½ - 2 weeks due to this.
With all the crashing I had managed to bug my character, Blocks was lvl 30 when I was able to play him again, so I had managed to get a few lvls while still crashing etc.
With the new aquired fix on the crashes, my character was now invincible, I had managed to get Shield of the Risen bugged to be permanent.
So I did the next 10 lvls, without being able to die, I managed to get through the Sanctum in Wild Lands (which was an awesome experience btw)
And I finally managed to get myself drowned at lvl 40, after that the buff was gone and I havent been able to recreate it since I never knew how I got it to be permanent !

Quests 1-40
So now I was lvl 40, I have always loved good quests, where you have a great story, you get involved, quests where you interact with objects or people, and so on.
The levels 1 - 40 was a perfectly good example on this, I enjoyed questing very much, especially in Old Tarantia I found a quest which reminded me so much about RPG's, that mixed with an Online world and the really great graphics, it was bliss!
Of course there were bugged quests, which also got reported!

Dungeons 1-40
While there might be other instances classified as dungeons, I have only been in one, Sanctum of the Burning Souls.
This dungeon is group based and located in the Wild Lands.
Now this was my first trip through a dungeon in AoC, and I was really in awe, the immense size of the dungeon, the details and just the quests you had involved with the dungeon, it was a grand experience, I must admit that if this is what AoC dungeons is like, I will be sure to do as many dungeon crawls as I can.

Zones 1-40
Alot of choices basicly, 1-20 it was Tortage, white sands, archeronian ruins etc, 20-40, you had Conalls Valley, Wild Lands, Khopshef, the zones seemed plenty considering my level and how fast you actually go through the lvls, not only did you have the three major zones, but also zones within those zones, for example in Wild Lands, you had the border ranges and such.
Pretty nice start after leaving tortage.

Levels 40-60

Ok so we continue.

I have since this post played another character through FotD and have made a new feedback thread regarding this see : Field of the Dead Revisitted

I was now lvl 40 and I went to field of the dead.
I loved the atmosphere in the zone, except that it seemed like I always played there when it was night, dark and gritty, but what do you expect in a zone full of werewolves.
At this point I had been overwhelmed with quests, which is why FotD didnt seem as overwhelming as my previous 40 lvls.
The amount of quests vs bugged quests was something you have to keep in mind here.
In my opinion there werent enough quests, but I did hit some of the bugged quests aswell so it seemed less, I was doomed to grind alot of my lvls here, since the quests I could do usually took me from anywhere from 20-50% through a lvl, and then I was grinding the rest.
I kept running to Eiglophean Mountains in hope I could find some quests there, but they didnt start so early, so it was back to FotD.
At around 48-50 I went to EM and started questing there, this area had more bugged quests than FotD and I was back to grinding, however there were some really good potential in the quests I did manage to do in EM, and I cant wait to see more from this place.
Old Tarantia seemed to offer some pretty decent quests too, especially some more RPG related quests and more interactivity/story line quests.
I finally hit lvl 60, and it was time to move on.

Quests 40-60
At 40, I didnt see much of the interactivity quests, it seemed more like Kill Quests, kill 15 of these, 15 of those, collect this and that, which is fine, since you basicly have to kill these things anyways for xp.
I did manage to do some quests which gave me back the feeling of an RPG here aswell, one particular quest involving a guy who was turning into a werewolf, however I had hoped for another outcome !
There seemed to be more bugged quests on these levels, compared to 1-40, but as I said earlier, the quest ratio isnt comparable on these lvls to 20-40, which I will come to in a minute under zones.

Dungeons 40-60
I didnt really find any Big Dungeons on these lvls, it was more caves and such, and of course without the Invincibility buff I wouldnt have been able to solo any group based dungeons I would have found, so I cant say too much about this.

Zones 40-60
Basicly after 40 it starts feeling very confined, with only one zone from 40-50 (FotD] and another one from 50-60 (EM) perhaps because I was grinding too much, and basicly just got fed up with the places in the end hehe, there were of course Frost Swamp, the housing zone and Ymirs Pass (Which I was told wont be staying) Frost Swamp is a minor zone, I managed to get a quest for the place from the housing zone, but it was too bugged to do much there.
The Housing zone itself, Lacherish Plains sp? was indeed very buggy.
Also we had the Noble District in Old Tarantia, however this zone was very bugged, missing alot of textures and so on.
The reason of confinement on these lvls were perhaps because of the said bugged zones, hopefully the next time I run through them, it will work alittle better and I will be able to try out more than just two zones.

Levels 60-80

So I was lvl 60, and I went to Atzels Approach, there were a bunch of quests, but some were buggy, some didnt reward exp, and the ones I did manage to do gave decent exp, still I got back into the need more lvls to get more quest thing, and therefor I had no other choice to get back to grinding, I grinded a bunch of lvls, did quests in between and reported the bugs I could find.
Atzels was a fairly decent place to level, alot of mobs, some nice sights to see and a few dungeons too, quests here were more of the kill quests and collectable quests too, of course there were some quests which were pretty nice, but still bugged.
At lvl 70 I jumped straight to Kheshatta to quest there, to my suprise, none of the quests rewarded any xp, which was quite a downer for me, since that meant I had to grind my way up to lvl 80, my main concern here was to make sure quests werent bugged, other than the missing xp and coin.

Quests 60-80
Now on these levels it was very confined aswell, two zones which you could quest in, Atzels from 60-70 and Kheshatta from 70+, while there are Os Harku aswell its not possible to get there atm.
Quests seemed plentifull however, except there were too many bugged ones, and no xp for the others.
I do have to admit though, that Kheshatta seems like a really good place to quest, there were one in particular (which I dont want to spoil) which really made me think of movies/books etc, it was really great.

Dungeons 60-80
I have found several dungeons for these lvls, real dungeons mind you, but also some sewer dungeons etc, like we had in Tarantia for example, I sneaked through one of these dungeons, but it wasnt as immense as the Sanctum, however I am looking forward to trying these things out once we have people for it.

Zones 60-80
Like I stated before, it felt very confined, due to not being able to travel to Os Harku for example, but also 3 zones on lvl 60-80, even lvl 80 would seem like nothing, and would get very boring quite fast.
While I do like Atzels it was a pretty nice zone.
Kheshatta was a blinding experience lol, all the purple grass/flowers was blinding my eyes, I really loved the layout, even though the zone seems quite small.

Tortage 1-20

I feel Tortage is perfect the way it is, mob difficulty vs a soldier isnt too much to handle, and this goes for the rogue too, on my priest it seemed alittle harder due to my heals simply healing for crap hehe.
Tortage was fun the first few times or ten, after that it has become a pain, and I look forward to a "Skip Tortage" key.
There isnt much to say here, except that I feel the difficulty is good the way it is, I will return to this once the XP change hits the server.

Progression 20-40

So basicly, we have a few choices here, I started in Conarch, went to Conalls and got the Vista + Conalls crash bug, which I was stuck in for awhile.
I have to admit things started to get harder, especially when fighting beasts, and me being a freshly baked Dark templar, I didnt feel much like a tank, especially not vs beasts / ranged npcs, they were slicing through me like a knife through butter.
I did like the overall feel of the damage my DT did however, vs solo mobs he did pretty good.
I got some levels, and got more combos, most of them were bugged, lifetaps, drains etc, so I cant really judge the difficulty since they didnt work as intended, but I had a hard time levelling, suffice to say on lvl 30 when I was hit with the invulnerability bug, it made things a whole lot easier, which is why I will skip most of the 30-40 content here.
All I can say is, I soloed Sanctum of the Burning Souls, and the difficulty in there for me solo was, mobs had insane amounts of Hit Points, I would really love to try this place out with a group however.
One thing that striked me, when I was lvl 30 I went to Wild Lands of Zelata, there were tons of quests, however they were alittle messy, so once I came back to deliver, I got a new quest the next lvl which took me to a place near where I already was hehe, of course I got into some bugged quests, but I dont complain, I had fun.
Like I mentioned in the first post, I love the interaction there were on the 1-40 levels in quests.

Progression 40-60

So I hit level 40, and I wasnt invincible anymore, now I was classified as a paper tank, if I got more than one mob I would usually die, considering I was a "Tank" I didnt do well at all, I feel like mobs are insanely hard compared to their "Con" Normal mobs and Minions, Bosses and Mini Bosses.
I was in Field of the Dead, and again I had a huge problem with wolves and other beasts, they were hitting extremely hard, which made it hard for me to kill stuff.
While I know you guys have a written note about how many mobs a person should be able to take on at a time, I really think you should reconsider this.
As a tank I should be able to take a beating, but my dps shouldnt be as high as other classes.
While the second is true, the first is not, I had a low dps compared to other classes, but I died just as easily as a mage !
Humanoids is a bit easier to handle here, Vaniirs and Werewolves were "semi ok"
After I got my amulet of Lycantrophy, which adds a cure for the disease you catch from FotD (reminds me, normal wolves cast this disease as well, not just werewolves) then it got alittle more manageable.
At level 48-50 I continued to Eiglophean Mountains, I really miss some sort of (Quest Direction pointer) some quest that tells me to go to this place next and start questing there.
Eiglophean Mountains, great place, loved the snowy landscape, but it was the same here, I had a really hard time with my DT.
I can continue like this until I reach lvl 80 in my post.
DT is underpowered in terms of tanking anything, and mobs are pretty unbalanced in terms of damage, dodge / blocks.
I felt like I had to grind more than I could quest at these levels, and the interactivity was sorta lacking, there were still some really good quests, but we need more of the story / interactive quests after 40.

Progression 60-80

At this point I was incredibly tired of my DT, I kept on going however to provide som valid feedback on my class, the quests I encountered and anything else I might have found.
Quests werent plenty at this point, I had to grind alot too.
I was in Atzels Approach, there were alot of quests, some which had missing markers, others had no xp reward etc.
I did the quests I could, bugged the rest, and just grinded.
Here I had problems with mobs aswell, especially the Ymir's, basicly what you need to understand, my Dark Templar had broken feats, including potion use feat, so it was crap pots and food/drink I was using, combine that with no lifetaps, and you got something really painfull.
Usually if I got more than 1 mob I would most likely die, unless I managed to get away.
Alot of the mobs here (Ymirs) were rooting however, which made it impossible to get away, so I just fought until my last breath.
I reached level 68, and I was thrilled, I could do some quests in Kheshatta now, so I was sure it was done with the grinding and back to questing, I went to Kheshatta and found out that quests didnt reward any xp, bummer...
Back to grinding, I got to 70, took all the quests I could get in Kheshatta, and made some of them, however admittingly I got annoyed at one point and didnt do anymore quests, instead I took a small break, and when I finally got on I would grind a few mobs, get even more annoyed and log again.
in Kheshatta it was the same deal however, Hyena's were a really painfull experience, those Scorpion archers another painfull experience, the grind was horrible hehe.
Then talking to people who didnt have as much trouble grinding made me more frustrated and annoyed, so I took it slow and easy, and just did whatever when I logged in.
I did several tests with a dev regarding my class, we tried a bunch of different things, to find out what was wrong with my class, and there were definately something lurking in the shadows.
I started doing some more quests in Kheshatta, I asked a GM to compensate some of the xp which I didnt recieve from the quests so I could continue getting the next quests which required one or two more lvls, I went back to grinding and basicly just had enough at one point and took another break.
I have been on and off since then, I got lvl 78 2 days ago, and tonight I hit lvl 80, I grinded the last xp I needed.
As it stands right now, the Dark Templar needs alot of work, both in tanking aspects, lifetap aspects and spell aspects, I felt alot of the spells I had were useless.
At all times I kept 3 spells running, I did notice a significant boost in fighting mobs (I got my spells when I was lvl 6Cool
But still not enough to keep me alive for long.
While I wont be playing a Dark Templar in live as a main, I was hoping for alittle more survivability with this class, considering his lifetaps, stuns and buffs.

Overall Impressions

This game has great potential, once most bugs are sorted out, PvP is in, mounts, more armor models, more options, DX10 etc etc, it will be a pleasure to play it, especially once we get some more balancing.
I have played alot of different characters, not just in Age of Conan, but also other games, including tanks, shadowknights and so on.
And for me the Dark Templar is under the wrong category as it stands.
He doesnt feel like a tank, but he doesnt feel like a damage dealer either, we're at the Hybrid pathway, but a very weak hybrid.
Feats wise, the most game breaking thing about him, no Potion Use feat for higher pots, no feat to use 1HE weapons, and lifetaps not working.

Pro's and Con's

Pro's:

Great Graphics
Fun Combat System (However the old one was alot better)
Great Music
Good choice of classes
alot of spells / combos / abilities
Helpfull Devs / GM's
Alot of bugs to sort out ! (yes this is a good thing, then we have something to do)
Awesome looking combat/fatality moves
Incredibly detailed characters / armor models


Con's

New Combat System (too messy with all the buttons you need to use while still maintaining your combat buttons/move buttons)
Bugs (Some bugs were worse than others, and of course some were insanely annoying)
Chat System (Need a better chat system, more colors, maybe a sound when you get a tell, a reply button etc)
People Search (It was better when it actually remembered your last input, search 1-80 players, it kept resetting)
Hotkey for Weapon switch (Need one of those)
More interactive quests
Better facial expressions (While lip sync is there, blinking of the eyes, it would be nice if the eyebrows moved aswell)
Emotes with Sounds (Would be nice if there were more sounds on the emotes + lip sync)
Emotes with Items (/emote Drink, he drinks but there is no bottle, same with eating, items added to emotes would be a plus)
Multiple Chat Windows (I have a combat tab next to my general tab, however everytime I log back in, and press enter to talk, it switches to the combat window to write my message, once it does that the message wont be sent, I would like the general tab to be default, maybe have a "Chat Here" sticky button)
Recieving new Combos (would be great if you had some kinda message telling you, you recieved this combo, and this combo etc)
Levels on things (This includes combos, spells, feats, items, food & drink, etc, or a feat requirement, just something, also class and spell descriptions)
Bank (Shared bank slot / coin slot, would be a welcome addition, its kinda annoying I cant transfer stuff, my mail system doesnt work)
More NPC's in towns (towns seems alittle dead, more scripted AI events or unscripted AI events, like in Oblivion/Assassins Creed would be cool)
No Torches (Come on, we need a torch! some places its insanely dark, would be nice if you could pull out a torch)
Game World (Seems very confined at the higher levels, we need more places to go)

I have added some minor suggestions under the con's, because I feel like its something that is missing, while im sure most of this stuff is being worked on, this is from my experience so far.

So this will be the end of my character progression feedback, more will come, both with PvP, mounts etc etc.
I will try and edit in new things as they come to me.

And before I stop writing, I would like to point out, im not trying to bash anyone or anything, I know the devs are working hard on getting the game to be all it can be.
And with that I wanna thank the devs and GM's for being so supportive and helpfull, you guys make it a joy to test this game.


And the Party goes on!

Character Creation
I know there are things missing in character creation, and it keeps getting better, however the hair styles dont look all too shabby, there are a few which are ok, we need alot more options on hair and facial hair.
When I remember hearing about AoC's character creation, it was stated it would be one of the most advanced in an MMO, while I do agree we have alot of options, we dont have enough, they seem very limited.
You cannot tweak the eyebrows, the way they turn etc, we cant tweak the size of the upper part of the face, and we cant choose if the character has a rough face, or a baby face, those comes with the random head generator or from picking a face, but mainly those faces are insanely ugly, and it seems like the options for the faces doesnt do much, while you can take a normal face, you can tweak the settings so the face looks like one of the random faces, however with a random face the tweak sliders dont really do much, since they arent moved too much, this also causes some very weird looking faces.
I gave some suggestions and feedback on character customization before.
And this is what I would love to see.

Default Body + Face, whenever you press the default button you get this, maybe one of the old models used, a bald one (for males)
When picking faces, there should be the options of Rough, Tarnished, Old, Young etc.
Adjustable eyebrows, and different looking eyebrows.
Haircolors are alittle messed up after the latest patch, the black hair actually looks more blue etc, more hair colors would be a big plus.
More sliders for adjustable things about your face, while I do think you have alot of sliders to adjust with, there is just something missing.
Sliders split up into categories, Eyes, Brow, Cheeks, Chin etc.
After watching the Slaver and his body type, it would have been nice if you could pick a body type like that, maybe you have some default bodytypes, like Athletic, Slim, Bulging and Fat, and you can tweak those body types, whereas the fat one would kinda look like the slavers body type perhaps ? I mean its already in, and if the armor can fit one of the fattest normal builds you can make, then it should be able to fit a slaver kinda body type ?`
Jewelry for men, yes I said it, a Stygian with earrings, or some kinda piercings or other things which could look intimidating, maybe under the tattoo slider.
Better zoom on the male's face, would be nice if you could move the face up and down too, so you get a good overview on it, afterall once you make the face you can never change it.
Most importantly, a save option for the Characters you make, this is something I feel like is very important, especially since making a character which seems perfect to you can be hard, and if you get close it would be nice to be able to save your work, and tweak some more, if you dont like that you just load it back up, Vanguard did this by saving it to a text file, all the slider options etc.


Dont get me wrong, I love the character customization, I just feel like something is missing, while I know there are constantly being added new stuff with the patches, there are just some things which I would love to see, I really admire the detail of the characters, especially the faces, the cheek bones and everything about them, they look incredibly good.


Particle Effects

So it is time for another update!
I have to admit I love the spell effects in the game, however im not to keen on the particles used for combos, I remember seeing some silver trail/blur of the blade when you did combos, all the traffic light colors on my combos really doesnt fit
Something however which would be incredible for me to look at, and this might not cater to some people.
As a Dark Templar, I have been thinking about this for some time, we have different weapon buffs, for example, Weapon of the Damned, it gave some black smoke/particles which looked really nice, I would love to see those particles ingulf your weapon and your hands or something, and when you swing with your combos or standard swings, a trail of this smoke emits from your blade, this is a weapon buff, so make it buff my weapon with particles.
There are several things like these, which I believe would be incredible, while I dont agree on standard Weapons with Particles on them like in WoW, I do have to say that a buff which adds magic to your weapons or your body or hands etc, would be great.
Back to the standard colors on particles for combos right now, I dunno we live in a world of magic, but its a dark sort of magic, having all the bright lights on combos doesnt fit in, I would rather still see the motion blur or the trail of the sword, instead of the nifty particles emitting from combos.
I dont know if its just me, but a different approach on this would be welcome.

Buffs and Spells
Like I mentioned above, I love the spell effects, my Dark Templar has some great looking ones, alot of blood and black magic.
Basicly from what I have seen so far, all the Dark magic effects are incredible, Demonologists, Dark Templars, Necro's etc.
Going to the brighter spell effects from the healers, they fit in with their classes, and I might be wanting too much, but different spell effects for every spell would be nice too

@Copyright 2008 Ajuma - John Drevan

More guides to come soon in the near future as the game progresses!

[nosleep]

nice, great info
+rep

[akaj]

Very very helpful guide

[Ajuma]

Thanks guys, appreciate it more to come.