[Guide] Top General Guide to date

[quillenl]

It's simple and from the official forum... but a must read:
A guide to Everything Age of Conan. - Age of Conan Forums

If you can find a paid guide anywhere for information or leveling that is better... I'll apologize and delete

[disclaimer] It is not a step by step quest guide for leveling... but there isn't a good one of those out right now anyhow.

[quillenl]

(Posted for those who do not have access to the forum)
A General Guide of AOC Leveling, and Questing.

contents.

Intro.

i. General comments on Characters, and creation.
ii. Some basic Recommendations
iii. Some basic Information on Crafting
iv. Comments on PvP.


1) Tortage

2)Your main racial City.

3) The first Level 20 Area.

4) Your second LVL 20 Area.

5) Level 40 Areas

6) level 50 Areas

7) level 60 Areas

level 70 Areas(coming soon)

9) level 80.(coming soon)

10) Instance/Dungeon guide and Boss battle tactics.(coming soon)

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Updates

__________________________________________________ ______________________

Updated language, spelling and gramar, and created update section (6/10/0

Updated level 20 section, level 60 section, corrected more grammar/spelling mistakes (6/12/0

Updated spelling grammar mistakes, added bbc code for pretty-ness, and fixed some of the "block of txt syndrom" Removed gear section due to massive updating, will be relocated within each leveling section as apropriate.(6/15/0


In the works: Level 70 areas, Dungeon and boss guide section, updated crafting information, greater details for level from 20-30 30-40 and 50-60.
__________________________________________________ _________________________




Introduction


Before any one gets all bent out of shape, this is entirely a creation of my own opinions and experiences in the game. If you have anything to add, or any comments, or hate my spelling or grammar mistakes, please see the bottom of the post.

I have not, and will not, ever post exact quest details. I feel it is extremely important that a person experiences the awesome quests, and story line the the dev's have created. There are few, if any quests you really need exact details on.

Simply put, if you need help with a quest, read the dialog in the quest book, it will have major hints on how to complete the quest. If you still cant figure it out, i can guarantee you there is a post and answer in the forums.





i. General Comments on Characters and Creation.


First off, i know your going to try a class that you think your familiar with from another MMO. Don't. The classes in AOC have little true resemblance to anything you've played before. Each class is different and unique in a way that, if you were a tank in WoW (for example) your going to be surprised at the way a "tank" class works in AOC.

Second, AOC does have a naming policy, so naming your character Mcscruffykins will probably get you a forced name change. Bob, or George (tho dumb names) might be overlooked. But in any case do try to name your character something that your going to want to be looking at down the road. A lvl 80 demonologist with the name Mcfluffykins is going to get you noticed, and ganked...and spawn camped, and your eventually going to hate it. (if you can even keep the name)

Third, Be careful on the server type you choose. PVP, (even world pvp) is vastly different in AOC. From my experience pvp servers right now (close to launch) are vicious spawn/resurrection point camps. With groups of roaming gank groups owning any solo characters. RP-PVP servers are a little better, with a higher chance of some one stopping by to talk to you, or try to RP you before they gank you. But the roaming gangs, and spawn camps still exist. If your not already in a guild, and decide for PVP server, get one FAST. Preferably one with 20-30 members min. PVE is probably your best bet when you first make a character, so you can learn the class, its abilities, without constantly looking over your shoulder.

Do note, the learning curve is pretty steep for some of the classes later in the levels (*cough* guardian *cough*). More importantly, AOC throws things up in the air and will change the way you do things every 20 levels or so.

For example, lvl 30 soldiers get heavy armor, you now can "tank" better. LVL 40 soldiers now get the combat rosette, which equals 2 extra directional attacks, which will throw you off for quite a while. For casters, lvl 40 is a turning point in casting, when your spells get allot better, or have become not so effective as you'd hoped or are used to. Lets not forget lvl 50 for casters and when you get spell-weaving or level 60 for plate armor for guardians.

ii. Basic Recommendations


There are just a couple things to note, on general principal. Throughout most of the game, your class should be able to take 2-3 mobs on an average pull, and survive fine. Some classes can take significantly more (soldier classes) some will have occasional difficulty with those numbers (mages, on occasion).

Be aware of the targeted mob. Check the lower right hand corner of your screen where it shows which mob your targeting. Different mobs will have different visuals for that area. For example, Boss mobs will have little spiky horns, and a blood or flesh decorated border.Mini bosses will have only one side with horns. Elites will have a thick red border, with some oriental looking spines on each side. Elite bosses will have the Think red border, with the flesh+blood design, with a big nasty blood and guts design over its health.

Normal mobs hit for your average damage. mini-boss mobs hit for a little bit more damage, and have higher hit points. Killing one is the equivalent of about 1-1.5 normal mobs.

Bosses hit for about double normal damage, and have very high HP. Killing one is about the same as taking on 2-3 normal mobs.

Elites do the equivalent, or some times higher damage than a boss, they have huge amounts of HP. Killing one is about the same as taking 3-6 normal mobs.

Elite Bosses have Damage to the point that cloth wearer can get 2 shott-ed and tanks will go down fast without healing, their HP is massive. Killing a Elite bosses is the equivalent of killing 12-15 normal mobs.

Supposedly there are higher tier mobs, I suppose Raid level, I have yet to see them, considering i have yet to go into an end game dungeon.(this is hearsay at worst, scary if true)

Note: This has been confirmed. Raid bosses, and Raid level mobs do exist. And to say they hit hard is like saying the Japanese like sushi. I accedentaly stumbled into a lair of one of the raid mobs, and died instantly, i didnt even see the mob becaus it was so huge. I have 31% (in defensive stance) resists to all physical damage, 7.2k hp, and max (and capped) deffense on the guardian that insta died.

iii.Basic Information on Crafting


First off, you get your first tier of harvesting skills at level 20. Yes you can get them all. Wood, Stone, Minerals, Prospecting, Leather, which equates to Ash, Sandstone, Copper, Silver, and Leather.

You get your actual crafting profession at lvl 40. Yes, you can have 2 of them, yes the manual is wrong, yes this is confirmed. A good recommendation, is if your going Armour Crafting, go Gem-cutting or weapon-smithing to augment the crafting. Or Alchemy and Gem-cutting. Personally i consider the other professions as guild oriented, and not profit, or character oriented crafting.


There are different quests for each tier, that gives you access to the different normal and rare harvesting materials, and crafting recipes.

Tier 1 comes at 20 for harvesting, and 40 for crafting,
tier 2 comes at 50 for harvesting, and 50(*) for crafting.
tier 3 comes at 70(*) for harvesting, and 60(*) for crafting.
tier 4 comes at 70(*) for crafting, and you should be able to harvest everything
tier 5 comes at 80 (*) for crafting.

And yes, the crafted items are more than worth it, especially when you look at gems. For example you can easily find gems that give 1-3%% resist in a particular damage. Meaning with 11 slots you can have 10-20% or more resists for 3 damages, or a little lower for more damage types. Not to mention the other effects that are possible from gems (*cough* life-tap *cough*).

Right now, crafted items are a little buggy, but the higher tier crafted items are supposed to have more slots for more gems. Meaning the effects, resists, and what not can be better stacked.

[quillenl]

iv. Comments on PvP

I've seen allot of comments where people say, "omgz wtf, i got pownzored by one class over and over, that is totally teh suxor, nerf em!" This is an ignorant opinion. There is no win all beat all class, if there is, ballance is screwed.

Any class vs Any class is totally a fight of skill. It may feel like round robin, because some classes have a weakness to something another class is good at. This is balanced for every level above 20 (that I've seen). I will go through class by class and give you a good idea, of tactics, and which classes your going to have the hardest time with. It is important to note that Every single class, has a weakness. Some of the other classes, due to natural mechanics can use this weakness to their advantage. Squishy casters vs high dps melee. This doesn't mean that class will beat you every time. It just means they have an advantage in the fight. IF you know your class, and know your tactics, you can win.
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Note: Group pvp is vastly different than 1v1 pvp.
There are few simple tricks that you can use that will SEROUSLY improve your chance of winning any fight. For fighters, double tap forward, and you get a chance to stun your opponent for 2-5 seconds ( a free cc, which rox for versus casters). For casters, double tap left or right and you suddenly have a high chance of dodging the damage they do to you, giving that extra little push to pull of that cc.

NOTE: EVERY class goes through a weak period. It just happens. Deal with it. Every class also goes through a strong period, enjoy it.

Soldiers.

Guardians.

Basically, if its another soldier class, you had better use counter strike, and go into defensive stance, and you will have a very high chance of beating them. At higher levels (30-40) you can stack counter-strikes. ie counter strike II, stacks and does not replace counter-strike III, and are on different cool downs.

If you manage to get 2 counter-strikes on another melee player, you don't even have to worry about hitting them back, they will kill themselves. Be warned, a smart Dark Templar wont attack you and just use the magic abilities they have to drain you. They can on occasion be tough.

Healers are actually really tough allot of the time, even if you go frenzy stance, pole arm, and unguarded attack. They can just out heal the damage you do to them, and without them melee-ing you back, they can just heal themselves until help arrives and then you die.The big reason they are tough, is there low cool-down aoe CC's. Bear Shaman are the Exception to this rule. its closer fight, because some of their abilities rely on executing melee attacks. That means Counter-strike stacking will work on these guys. The only real problem with Bear shaman are their knock-backs.

Most of the mage classes will be a little tough. Its going to be iffy trying to kill them, because they have CC. If their CC is on cool down, they die, if not, you die. A demonologist has 12 seconds of root time to blast you to death, and they do have the damage potential to do it. Heralds of Xotli will be the one danger of the mages. They have a 2 min cool down ability that does some serious damage. If they catch you wrong they can kill you with it, because guardians have little to no resists on magic.

Necromancers are going to be a matter of out DPS-ing them. IF they catch you at range, they might be able to DoT you to death, even if you kill them, the DoTs might kill you. Jumping into frenzy stance, and unguarded attack, and using overreach and then a second lower overreach rank may get you a kill on a mage faster than they can root you.

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noted: due to the guardian overreach "nerf" this is no longer possible. Only if you spec heavily in juggernaut tree and get strike and guard can you still do this. Otherwise it is far higher likely a mage will kill you than you kill them.
Rogues will generally not be a major problem, except for the Rangers. because of there slows, and pins. In this situation, remember. Charge is your friend. If you have the Juggernaut spec tree's Second charge, where you stun them. Rangers will be about as squishy as a caster when using frenzied overreach.

Dark Templar.


Technically this class is the weakest in pvp compared to the other soldier classes. you don't have the damage of a Conquerer, or the tanking ability of a Guardian, what you do have, is lots and lots of AOE nasty.

You HAVE to be tactical, there is no real pump and grind, next one please, kind of pvp for you. You will have to be constantly aware of what stance your opponent is in, what position he's in, relative to you, among a dozen other subtle differences that would take a guide in and among themselves.

One on one, the other soldier classes have a higher chance of beating you than you of beating them in a toe to toe fight. IE, don't go toe to toe. Use your magical abilities to drain them of health, you will scare the piss out of them if you do this right. You have to be smarter than your opponent to beat them. More tactical.

On the other hand. Priests are yummy food for you. Your abilities to do secondary damages, self "heals", while doing standard melee damage, means you have the highest chance of beating a priest versus the other two Soldier classes.

The Mage classes chance to win versus, is about the same as the Guardian, if not slightly higher. Rogues on the other hand, will be a pain for you. Especially Rangers, with there slows, pins, and ranged abilities, they will frustrate you on occasion.

Conquerers.

One word. killers. You are the dps class of the soldiers, you can dish out more dps than any of the others. IF YOU DO IT RIGHT. I don't want to instruct you, exactly what to do, but you can be a serious pain in the butt if you set yourself up correctly. Of the soldier classes only the Guardian will really give you any trouble, because of the amount of return damage and tanking ability. Frenzied, unguarded attack, and some conquerer abilities and you can scare the piss out of a guardian.

Priest will be a head-ach, because of CC, and heals tho if you can charge them, you can on occasion kill them outright.

Mages are your bane. If you get the jump on one, then your probably going to win. But if they CC you, kiss your junk goodbye, because they will own you.

Rogues are your favorite classes to fight against. Of all the classes they will give you the most challenging without frustration. Assassins are a good fight and has to do with skill, Barbarians, is going to be all about out DPS-ing them (not actually possible, unless you use some run, or circle tactics, knock backs etc.). Rangers will be a pain for you. just remember your charge, it is your friend.


Priests

Tempests of Set.

Tempests are the pew pew of the priest classes, They lose some healing ability for some seriously nice AOE damage, and arguably the best CC in the game. an AOE root, on a small cool-down.

Soldier classes can be tough, but generally you can root, runaway heal, and then blast them, rinse repeat, until they die.

Other priest classes will be a grueling contest of who can out heal who, and so represent the closes fights.

Rogues are probably your fun-nest classes to fight against. They get the jump on you, it is literally a matter of seconds before they kill you, so its a matter of getting off that aoe CC. You get that CC off, and they are dead meat. Except for Rangers. Rangers will kill you as fast as a mage will.

demonologist. What can i say about demonologist. They kill you 9/10 times. You simply cannot out heal, or out damage what a demonologist can do to you. This doesn't mean its not possible, just extremely hard.

Necromancers if you get lucky you can root the minions of a necromancer and pew pew him to death, but that doesn't always work out so well. Heralds of Xotli are an iffy class to fight against, with your CC you can root him and pew pew to death, but with their 2 min almost instant death ability, they are going to be tough for you.

Priest of Mitra

Arguably the purest healer of the game, but unlike other mm-o's you have some seriously nice pew pew.

Soldier classes can be a pain, but your low cool down aoe knock back can usually take care of it. A good percent of the time you will win versus a soldier class, if you do things correctly. If they charge you, or knock you back, your generally dead within a hit or two.

Your only real competition for other casters, is other priests. With other priests its a matter of who can heal the most, while still doing damage. Just a hint, get close to them. Your knock back can seriously disrupt there ability to out heal you, and gives you an advantage in priest vs priest combat.

Rogues. these guys suck for you, you have an aoe CC, but it is a race to see if you can get it off before they kill you. Typically your going to loose. If you get it off, then you have a chance, because once out of stealth, they are about half as dangerous to you. Except of rangers. They will own you like a demonologist.

As for a demonologist, you will die a large percentage of the tie, because they simply out pew pew you. You cannot even keep up by doing nothing but healing. Unlike the ToS if you get close to a demonologist you can use your knock back cc to disrupt their casting.Necromancers are occasionally difficult, your aoe CC can really help for taking off the minions, but as to weather you can pew pew the neccy before he kills you, is a matter of chance. Heralds of Xotli. They are tough, Similar to a Barbarian in damage (and greater in demon form), if they get the jump on you, typically your going to loose, but it is possible to beat them.

[quillenl]

Bear Shaman

Arguably the toughest of the priest classes, your ability to melee while healing gives you some very nice dps potential, and still keep you alive.

Typically in a 1v1 fight A guardian is going to kill you if they get off their counter strikes, you cant heal the amount of damage they will do to you and do enough damage to kill them. it IS possible to win tho. But (hate to use wow as an example) it will be like watching 2 holy paladin going at it. Long, long fight.

Darktemplars are tough opponents, with about a 50-50 ratio, depending on the kind of tactics you employ (knockbacks). Conquerers are going to be nasty. The have the ability to out dps your ability to heal. At the end of most fights with a conquerer you will probably be dead, and he will be hurting.

Priests. The other priests classes are going to be tough. The TOS has the ability to out pew pew the damage you do, and has a root to boot, so can be tough to do. Hopefully you can out heal the damage they do, which is possible on occasion. Once the root is gone, you can win most of the time.

Priest of mitra will be the toughest of the 2, because of the knock back, and there better heals. Generally though, you should win versus other priests.

Rogues. What can i say, these guys suck for you, You cannot out dps them, and you cannot out heal the damage they do. 80% of the time, they will kill you. Rangers, like demonologists will win 90% of the times you meet them.

Necromancers are a fun fight. you do enough damage that you can generally kill one. IF you can also out heal the damage their pets do. So its a fight of who does best at what they do. Heralds of Xotli are going to be uber nasty. They have a 2 min cool down that is almost insta death for you. Can be a very very nasty fight.

Rogues


Barbarians.

You may not do the most damage of any class (tho it is extremly impressive at times), or stealth the best, or have the best tanking ability, but you are the most all around balanced hybrid. You do hit very very hard, and trust me, a stealth-ed critical, with a 2 hand sword is some of the sweetest damage ive ever seen. Your knock back, stuns, and those super hard hits are what make you a threat to everything.

Soldier classes are going to be the toughest for you. Especially the guardian, they can tank what you give them and if they get counter strike stacked on you, your going to die...so don't let them finish the combos.
Dark Templar are a tough fight, but doable most of the time. Conquerers will be your most challenging fight of any of the melee fight, because they have equivalent dps, and other abilities. It will be a real fight of skill with a Conquerer.

Assassins are tough, but your stuns, and knock back make it so he simply cant out dps you. (which they can do if you stand toe to toe, just slugging it out). Rangers suck. There not un-killable but they will be a major pain for you if they catch you out of stealth.

Priests. Its all about getting off that first stealth-ed attack, you get that strike off, 90% of the time, you win, hands down.

Demonologists are your most hated class. If you don't kill them in the first 3 seconds of a fight, or they catch you out of stealth, your dead. Necromancers typically are not a problem, because you can 2 hit kill them, and ignore the pets. Heralds of xotli are going to be tough, they can 1 shot kill you, on occasion with their 2 min cool down, if you don't kill them first.

Assassins,

this class is probably one of the most challenging melee character to play. Your stealthing ability is far greater than any other, and your dps potential is out the roof (compared to other melee). but with a lack of any real CC, you have serious troubles with other melee classes.

One word tho. Guardians. Avoid them. If they get counter-strike on you, with your fast moving daggers, you will do more damage to yourself than you can ever possibly do to him. Dark Templar will be a fight about tactics, and Conquerers are a tough fight, doable, but not guaranteed, because they hit VERY hard.

Rogues. these classes are your bane. Barbarians can 2 shot kill you allot of the time. Rangers. lets just say you die. The seceret to winning versus another rogue class will be stealth+perception skill. if you can see that oponen while they are in stealth, and you get the jump, they are dead out right. If you catch another rogue out of stealth they are dead.

Demonologists are the fun class to play versus. You can one shot kill them when coming out of stealth some of the time, and even if you don't, typically you can kill them faster than they can cast their CC. If they catch you out of stealth from a distance, you die. hands down. Necromancers, similar to demonologists. Heralds of Xotli are food for your dinner. No real trouble, but on occasion they can get off their 2 min cool down super damage ability.

Rangers.

Your ability to slow, stop, bleed, and do massive damage to any class AND stealth, will make you one of the most hated classes in the game. For good reason.

If you get the drop on a soldier class, about 50% of the time you can win. DO NOT, melee versus a soldier class, its not possible for you to do enough to win. EVEN if you have reduced there health down by ranging.

Priests. these guys can be a pain on occasion, but not particularly tough. Your ability to out damage their healing (most of the time) makes them fodder for your kill board.

Rogues. Lets just say, that if they catch you out of stealth, you die. vice versa.

Demonologists are the fun class to kil, you can 1-3 shot kill them. But be warned, they can do the same to you. Necromancers. little trouble, the don't do enough damage to be dangerous to you. Heralds of Xotli can be nasty, but easily killed because of them being a clothy.



Mages


Demonologists

Personally i found this class one of the funnest to play. This class has the best pew pew of any other class in the game. And arguable the highest dps, when you consider spell-weaving.

Soldier classes can be a pain, but if you get off the Storm chains, they die if not, you die.

Rogues are your bane. Stealth critical, plus massive hits= your dead before you can do little more than get off an instant spell.

Priests are easy work, because you can out pew pew any healing they can do, and if they decide to go toe to toe, then its super easy, because you WILL win.
Necromancers are fodder, because you can ignore their pets and blast them to hell,

Heralds of Xotli on the other hand will own you a good portion of the time. They have a 2 min timed ability that on occasion insta kill you. Remember, for this class, you are a clothy, you take massive damage for everything. And thats why if you can get ranged from ANY other class, you will win 9/10 times. If your in melee, then its a race to see if you can get your cc off, before they kill you.

Necromancers.

This is the toughest class to play, PERIOD. This doesn't mean its impossible, just very very hard.

Soldier classes can kill very quickly, and the pathetic CC you do have, is so narrow based, that it doesn't hit them very often. If you can get ranged, and send your pets in, before they get to you, some times you can win.

Rogue classes suck, Half the time, your dead before you know it. On the plus side, if you catch them out of stealth, you can kill them before they have a chance to do anything to you.

Priests. They are tough, but do able. Your ability to lay down massive damage through dots, and pet melee damage can out damage the healing ability of any priest. One problem, they can pew pew you to death, so delicate care is needed to take them.

Demonologists. They kill you, hands down. They just out damage anything you can do. Heralds of Xotli are fun tho, there a clothy that melee's, so you can dot, dot, send in minions and run away and they die.


Herald of Xotli.

You have what is guaranteed to be the most frustrating (to other players) ability in the game. You have the ability to do MASSIVE damage every 2 mins. Most of the time, to any class (except) soldiers, you can take them down to almost no health. In demon form you are easily as tough as a Soldier, but for only 20 (or so) seconds.

Soldiers on average, are going to be a tough battle but do-able. Except for Guardians. they have the ability to tank the damage you deal, and dish out stacked coutnerstrikes. Even if you use demon form and the massive damage ability. You can loose fast.

Priest are going to be tough in general, because of the CC of TOS, and knock back of POM. Bear shaman on the other hand are killable.

Rogues. Lets just say ew. They will kill you the majority of the time. As with every other class, if you catch a rogue out of stealth, they will die.

Demonologists. This class will kill you, if your at range. Other wise you can 2 shot kill them with that massive damage ability. Necromancers are not really tough, tho can be irritating if they dot you and run away.

[quillenl]

1. Tortage


a) The jungle.

So, you've finally selected your character class, and are done with the long and confusing opening cut scene.

First off, turn right around and jump into the water, near where the prow of the sunken ship is, you will find a treasure chest under the waves. Get it, sometimes it will have a pearl or a nice low level ring. Next, do the quest. Rescue the harlot, but before you run into the jungle, make sure you follow the beach and kill all the other scavengers, and the crocs. One way on the beach leads you past Kalanthes, to some crocs, the other way along the beach leads you to some scavengers, and more crocs. And a boss croc. Don't forget to loot the treasure chest, it some times has a ring, or a pearl in it.

b) Getting into the City

So you made it to Tortage. (and you should be lvl 5 or 6, if your lucky) Run down the path and talk to the guard. Uh oh, you cant enter the city because your a slave.

Go back up the path you came from, and talk to the giant dude with the hammer. He wants you to get him some bricks. Face the city, and when you go towards the city, take the left hand path, past some pirates (quite a bit tougher than the mobs you been killing so far).

Be warned, when you find the bricks (by seeing the glowy blue flames over them) on occasion you can get a boss demon bat to spawn. He's rather tough, for low levels and does knock back which can suck for casters.

Go back to Turach (the giant guy) give him the bricks, and then head back to the guard. Poof, you have access to the city now. The guard will have given you a quest to give a note to Tina. Don't do that one yet. Wait a bit and do some of the other quests.

[u]c) The city.[u]

First off, go to the armor and weapon merchant and purchase your upgrades. Its important that your aware what kind of armor and weapon you can wield, for your class. A soldier wearing light armor will get pownd. Sell everything in your inventory, that you can.

Also, it might be a good idea to buy some healing potions from the Alchemist, as they heal better than a priest does at that level. Also there are 3 or 4 (i forget exactly how many) quests you need to do before you start your destiny quests (the note to Tina one).

Talk to the harlot, and kill the pirates behind the Bearded Clam. There should also be a smith who you need to talk to and go loot some empty stalls. There are some others, and you should probably do them. Doing those quests you should be about level 7 or 8 now.

If not, kill some of the lower level pirates until you are. You will thank me later for it. Be warned, Don't do any of the quests that lead you to the harbor or White Sands, Those areas, are generally to Tough for you yet. Nows the time to go do the destiny quest line.

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A quick note on the Destiny quest line.

-You will be in Tortage Nighttime, Which is a single player mode. I.E. you wont find any other players, and no other players can help you with the quests.

-The volcano quests (both of them) are super tough. Your going to have to be smart, Watch out for the occasional ambush, and patrol. you WILL get 2 mobs a pull (on average) in this instances. Which can be tough for a solo person.
Once you get to the Destiny quest that says See trainer at level 10. you need to NOT continue on the destiny quest line, and go back to Tortage Day time (speak to your trainer for this option).

Once your back in the day time, there is a plethora of quests your going to want to do. You can do the quests in white sands(some of them at least) and the ones near the lighthouse/harbor.

Its important that you speak to Turoch, and the mitran priest, outside tortage. They will have quests for you to do. Turoch will give a quest where you will get a really nice sword (for those of you who use them) that will be worth using until you get one from the destiny quest end reward (ie, after speaking to Kalanthes a second time and leaving tortage.)

Honestly you can probably level from 8 to 15-16 on the tortage city quests, but its not neccissary (especially because your going to want to save some of those quests for later) You should probably return to your trainer at lvl 11 to 13 to continue the destiny quest.

Do the destiny quest until you get to the "see trainer at 15" and instead of continuing, go back to tortage.

This is the important bit. your going to want to do every quest possible for you, until you get to lvl 18 or 19. There are plenty of them. Be aware that ever time you level your going to want to run around tortage to see if any new quests opened up. Also, note that almost ever quest is part of a chain of follow up quests. A large number of quests don't open up until you have finished a certain quest line.

White sands, and Acheron Ruins are your friends during these levels. The Pictish drops will be very sweet for light/cloth wearer. The Pictish weapons will be well worth it for those who wield 2h weapons.

Once you hit 18 (or so) continue the destiny quest, until you leave tortage.

It is EXTREEMLY important for you to finish all the quests in tortage. (if you leave tortage before doing so, you can go back to tortage any time, as there is a "smuggler" near where you load into your racial city that will port you back). You will want the drops, exp, upgrades, and the level advantage will help you a great deal as you level in the lvl 20 areas.

2. Your main racial city.

Every one goes to a their racial city after leaving Tortage. Stygian to Kemi, Aquilonians to Old Tarantia, and Cimmerans to Conach village.

It is important to note, that there are tons of little quests in all of the major cities, so running around doing the "deliver this to so and so in such and such" in your main city, then going to the next main city, and then the last racial city, will easily net you 2-3 levels.

Might take some time because of all the running around and loading. I really recommend doing this, you will find some very interesting NPC's to talk to, start some of the more interesting quest lines, get nice money(which now actually becomes important), and become familiar with the main cities, wich will become paramout later in levels.

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Note; When in Tarantia. DONOT go into the nobles district, its a level 40-50+ area, and you will die. Even if you find you have a quest to deliver wine to that area. Don't. Its a trick!!! The only way your going to survive that quest is by having a higher level (40+) character clear the way through the mobs
if you've finished all the quests from the main cities you can expect to be between lvls 24-26

note: while your here its usually a good idea to replace your lower level, or incidental pieces of armor with the better vendor armor, or the greenys on the auction. Its also a good idea to buy some of your level health pots.


3. The first Level 20 area.


It is a very important decision to which of the level 20 areas you go to. Not all areas are the same. And at some point you WILL have to go to a different area to get to 40, and go to the next "tier" of area. Every area is different, and offers different rewards for different classes.


* Soldiers (Guardians, Conquerers, Dark Templar), Rogues (Barbarians, Assassins, Rangers), and probably the Bear Shaman best leveling is going to be initialaly from Connacht Valley, in Cimmeria.

The quests there will get you from 24-25 ish, all the way until level 30-35 (depending on how much grinding you end up having to do. wich should be none.) The number one reason your going to want to start in this area is because most if not all the drops and quest rewards are light to heavy armor, and geared for the more melee friendly classes. There area a few caster friendly drops or quest rewards, but there are better areas for that sort of thing.

* Priests (Priest of Mitra, Tempest of Set, not Bear Shaman) and the Mage Classes (Demonologist, Necromancer, Herald of Xotli) should really start in Khopesh province, in Stygia. The reason is that a majority of the quest rewards, and drops area geared for mana dependant classes. Due to the way the quests work here, you should get from 24-25 to 34-37.

Very important

If your NOT level 24-25 Do not go to the recommended area yet. Either go and complete the city quests, or go to Wild Lands of Zeleta, in Aquilonia, and do the quick and fast quests in the newbie town there to get you their. Once you do hit 25-ish, go to the recommended area. You will thank me later.

Note: it is a good idea that during this period you save your money, only spending it on pots (if you have to), also keep most of the green named drops, to sell on the trader, so you can collect up money for your mount at 40.

[quillenl]

4. The second level 20 (level 30) area.


If you've followed this guide so far, you should be between lvl 34-37, and run out of major quests in the first level 20 area you went to. Don't panic, its OK, its not a big problem.

Your first and best bet is to now go to Stygia for the Pyramid quests. This instance is located in the lower right hand portion of the map, and has level 29-30 ish normal mobs. The quest rewards are OK, but its mostly for the good exp, and some variety in your questing that your going here.

Next, and In most, if not all cases, i recommend going to Wild lands of Zelata, in Aquilonia. There will be more than enough quests to level you to 38-40.

Probably the most important parts of this area is the Sanctum of Burning souls (which you should get plenty of quests from, especialy if you've explored other areas.) and the Front lines instances. The front lines instances (gotten by the Missing Regiment quest) Gives huge amounts of exp (compared to what your normally getting) has awesome quest rewards for all classes, and is something of a gateway for 3 quest chains.

The Sanctum of Burning Souls is going to be the most important area for you. The instance is elite, meaning every mob is also elite. The bosses are tough, and the quests rewards for the area is absolutely awesome.

Probably the 4 most important drops that your going to get in this area are the really nice shield from the drowned one boss, the really nice sword and helm from the warlord, the really nice caster armor from the Princess, and the really nice mace from the ancient one boss.

There are 6 or 7 quests (if i remember) that you can get to go into the area, and at least one quest gotten from a ghost inside. So if you get a group, and you WILL need a group, make sure to have every one share. Its also recomended that you go back repeatedly and get as many of the blue drops as you can. Some of thies drosp will last you into your late 40s and 50s.

If you have finished all the quests for Wild lands of Zelata, and completed all the major instances (spider caverns in Cimmera, Pyramid in Stygia, Front-lines, and Sanctum of Burning souls in Aquilonia) and your STILL not level 38-40. You need to head to the 3rd level 20 area left to you, and hope you can get enough quests to level you to 40 (and more than likely you should). If that doesn't work, i honestly recommend you go do the crafting quests at this point, that way you can get the random spawns, when your mining nodes, and just running through the area to level you up.

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note: its very important that you have saved money, and sold every green you didn't use on the market, your absolutely going to want to have 1g to buy the basic mount manual. This manual gives you the basic mount attacks. Charges, front hoof strikes, and rear hoof kicks along with the attacks for the pre-order mounts. The attacks arnt imporant, its the 20-30% speed increase that you want. Becaus running through 8 areas to get to your closest quest SUCKS.
5. Level 40 Areas


General info

Congratulations! your now level 40! Mounts, the combat Rosetta, and crafting is now yours!

First things first, if your not a armor crafter, befriend one. because your desperately going to want to get a crafted set of armor and put some gems in it. The reason, is because there are 11 slots to fill that can have gems in them (head, neck, shoulder, wrist, hand, torso, belt legs, feet, rings2, weapon). Typically you can buy gems with percentile damage reduction to the items. Typically you can get between 2-5% damage reduction gems, either from the auction, or if you befriend one. Having 5-10 percent damage reduction for all the damage types would seriously rock. Lets not mention any of the other awesome effects you can get from gems (*cough* life tap *cough*).

Second, GET LVL 40 POTS!! seriously, at this stage, if your not using pots on a regular basis, your either far far more skilled than the average player, or retardedly lucky.

On a side note, if your not in a guild now, its usually a good idea to find one at this point. You will start to need regular grouping mates from now on, and some of the benefits from guild cities will seriously start to play a major role in your crafting experience.

Leveling

As for actual questing, your first bet is to go to the nobles district, and do all the quest you can there. At some point (lvl 43-44 ish) the quests there will peter out. You should probably go to the Fields of the Dead (in Cimmeria). At about level 46-48 ish, the quests will peter out there to. Aaaand you get to go back to the Nobles district. If your unlucky enough to not have the quests in the Nobles District available to you (ie grey exclamation marks or some such) Start doing the repeatable quests.

It is EXTREEMLY important that you DONOT do any of the 50 area quests, once you hit 49. IF you do them, you WILL have problems leveling later on, and be forced to grind or do the higher end repeatable quests.

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Note: There are "repeatable" quests now available to you. Most of them are rather easy, solo-able, and not super great exp. All of them put together is decent tho.
* through out Fields of the Dead there are "wanted posters" posted for Vanir kill counts. these are easy fast exp. And did i mention they are Repeatable?
* in the nobles district there are quests in the Arms-man Tavern, and outside Villa Verde, for the "nobles villa." these quests are awesome exp, good money, but are on a timer, before you can do the next step. you will WANT to complete the steps. The quest rewards are well worth it.
* the Arena quests (inside the Arms-man Tavern, after the buggy testing quest) are Really Exceptionably Awesome Quest Rewards. Seriously, some of the armor rewards made me think about giving up my crafted set

Probably the one of the most awesome drops, and quest rewards for "timed" or "repeatable" quests are the ones you can receive in the crafting areas. These are NOT solo-able. they are tough and mean. and hurt. But you will get blue item drops (some rumored purple drops, but unconfirmed). So it is well worth it. You WILL need a group for this. If your doing the arena quests DONOT do the group quest for it. Wait till your in your mid 50s or so. Its just simply to hard, even with a full group to do those quests..

[quillenl]

6. Level 50 Areas

General info

If you use a shield, ignore everything else until you do this quest.
Go to Egliophan Mountains and go to the nearest canibal camp. There should be a Glowing magickal orb there, click on it, You now have a quest to get a shield you probably will use until your in your low 60s.

For casters level 50 is perhaps the most important. You get spell-weaving. Unfortunately I've not played a caster this far yet so i don't know the exact mechanics, but i have seen what they can do while spell-weaving. Damage. Dealing. Gods. Im absolutely serious. A priest, while always doing decent damage, during spell-weaving, will seriously out damage any melee class. Priests, and other casters have to be carefully about doing it during a group, because you do enough damage that it is NOT possible for a tank, or any other class to pull mobs off of you, even with all the hate gathering stuff skills/abilities/combos out there.

Melee classes get things thrown up a bit too. Towards the end of the 40s, and beginning of the 50s most of your major attacks get replaced with ones that use the lower left, and lower right directional swings. Which if your not familiar with them, can really change the pace of battle.

Leveling

First off, if you havnt so far, you need to finish off the quest in Fields of the Dead, Hopefully you have gotten the quests for the Tomb. Which i recomend doing at this point. The end boss mob there is EXTREEMLY tough for her level, and involves either using a necromancer pet killing (while hidden) or some hit and run tactics. If your lucky enough to kill the boss befor your level 60 good job. The quest reward is seriously nice.

No later than about 52-ish do your Destiny quest its good exp. After that head to the Eiglopan Mountains. This is some seriously nice leveling here. Couple grind-ish quests, and the culmination of some of the nicer chains from the Nobles District, and before. At about level 54-55 ish, go back to the Nobles district and do the Cistern, and Main branch quests. With Eiglophan Mountains, and the isntaces done you should be around 57-58 befor you have any problems finding quests.

At about57 with so few quests its a GREAT time to start gearing up. There are a few recomended places to go to get some exceptional gear to last you into your 60s.

Every boss in the Cistern/Main Brance drops some kind of blue gear. Head pieces, legs, gloves, rings, staffs, you name it. There is something for every class.

The three greatest recomendations for getting good gear at this point is doing the Arena Group quests. You get a PURPLE item, (yes, an epic). Either a shield, sword, or mace. Id recomend letting the shield go. Its nice, but the one from eiglophan mountains is better (unless your a caster).

Also you can either go to the market and search for the blue set pieces (in name only, no set bonuses) for you class, or start up a group and do the repeatable quests from the crafting villiages. Thies quests will net 4-5 blue drops per run, and is well worth doing it to get gear up.


7. Level 60 Areas.


Genral information

Do i even need to tell you to get the level 60 pots?

It is extremely important that you DO NOT do any of the level 60 quests until your 60, or you will have one of the nastiest grinding times in the game if you do.

First off. Do your destiny. Im not giving any hits, but its epic. Not exactly a surprise, but very very good for an mmo. At this point King Conan will give you some quests. There nice, and if you have a lack of quests, do them, but you can wait for higher levels.


Second, befriend an armor smith, and get yourself a set of crafted Armour. I don't care if you think that awesome looking helm from the Cistern, or the really neat looking breastplate from the Sanctum is good. At this level, screw looks, your desperately going to want some quality gear, for the next 10 levels. Trust me, the crafted stuff is brilliantly better. Especially if you can gem it.

Most importantly, its better than anything your going to get for quests, until you can start doing the higher end dungeons, prison colony, or doing exp runs through the crafting instances, and in most cases the blue crafted gear is vastly superior to the blue drops from the crafting instances just becaus you can chose what you want.

Otherwise, The pieces you get in the crafting instaces are exceptional peices of equipment, and well worth the time into getting them. Especialy for the resists. It was difficult for me to debate between the 4 pieces of plate armour i had from crafting vs the blue 60 level plate drops from the crafting areas. Some of the crafted peices won out. some of the blue pieces won out.

Leveling

Your best bet is to go to Thunder River, and do the quests there. You should get from 60-62 or 63 before the quests there start turning red on you. Once that happens go to Aztels Approach and do the ones that are no further than the avelanch. That should net you another 2 levels or 3.

At about level 65-66 Things can get rough, especialy if you've done quests before their level. More than likely you may have to grind out a level before you get more quests. At about this level you will also start geting quest for the Prison Colony. Dont even worry about them. The prison Colony is so difficult that you need to be in your low 70s for the group to effectivly finish the quests. Not saying its impossible for an upper 60s group to do it, its just that the bosses (which most of the quests need) hit from 800-1900 on a fully juggernaught specced tank with full resist crafted gear that has hit deffensive cap, no healer can keep up with that kind of pounding.

Leveling in this leveling bracket isn't really that smooth. You will be forced to run between Atzels approach and Thunder River every few levels to make sure you've gotten all the quest available. Once you hit about level 68 things become realy rough.

In all honesty, unless your lucky you will be forced to grind out a level at least once.
More will come soon, once I've hit 70.


Conclusions, Apology, Explanation.


All of the information i have here is from my own personal experience and as such, may differ with what you have experienced. Also with the game so newly released things will probably get changed in game, i will do my best to keep this guide current.

I have played most of the classes to around the mid 30s with a couple into the 40s, and as such this guide is incomplete for every class. As more information from my own leveling becomes available i will update it. This guide should work for most, if not all classes, considering the generally same leveling structure for all of the classes.

If you see an information error, don't hesitate to PM, and i will change it.

Please, please ignore spelling, and grammar errors. I am dyslexic, and have trouble with it, at best, and cant read it at worst.