Posted by Artoir. on 09-08-2008 at15:41:
Beginner's Guide to BWLet me know what you think should come next!!!
First off, this won't be a definitive guide to BloodWars, only a rough sort of "Dummy's how to", or how I would personally play the game if I was starting out again.
I meant to do this a while ago, but never got round to it.
I'd appreciate all comments and suggestions from fellow players, especially those who have made it to top 50 etc, but not exclusively those people.
PHASE 1: New Blood
Right you've found the wonderful game of BloodWars and you're staring at the page with all it's buttons, links and pictures and thinking "Knights of Columbus there's alot going on here"
For now, All you will need to know about is the interface and a few key menus.
The Interface/HUD
Up top of your window there is a bar that runs the whole way across the page and can be seen on any page within the game. On the far left, it will show you what the most recent patch introduced was (or version number of the game), what Realm you are in, when the realm was created and the current population of the realm.
Beside this, there will be a sometimes blank spot. This is where images appear when a Server Event takes place (see tutorial).
Next to that you will see your name, the co-ordinates of your square and your XP bar. Hover over this bar to see how much XP you have earned and how much you need to level up.
Then there are the 3 main resources: Blood, Money and People. The tutorial will explain what these are for.
The menus are as follows;
Training
The Training section is essential when you start out, you've been given 1000 Points of Progress (or PoP) and you've been told to train your stats.
"But what stats should I train first?" I hear you say.
Well, when starting out as a 1 pointer, Melee rules supreme until a little bit later. Melee weapons are 1 handed and 2 handed. If you're going to use 1 handed, you'll most likely be using Knives or Daggers (try to avoid clubs). The first 2 handed melee weapon you will come across in the Shop (I'll get to that) will be a Mace.
Right where was I, ah yes. Your Stats.
As I said melee rules supreme at the start, so if you want a head start from the rest of the pack, you need the right stats.
For melee, the main stats you'll be focusing on will be Aglity and Strength.
When you first start out, everyone will be spreading out their stats as theyre not too sure what they are for. If you haven't already done this, then Max out your Agility, Strength, Toughness and Reputation, and get your Intelligence and Knowledge to 4 to equip your knives, as you will then be able to beat almost everyone around you. Use the experience from these attacks to then upgrade the stats you have on 0 to around 5/6
Your toughness is relatively important too, it determines how much damage you can take in combat.
Charisma will determine how much additional HP you get from the Police Station when you build it.
Reputation will determine how much additional HP you get from the Bodyguard Agency when you build it.
Details on the above buildings and their fucntions can be found in the Tutorial, and you will find the link for this on the side of the BloodWars page.
Your Appearance isn't that important, it's only really used for equipping items and for buildings.
The Throne Hall
The Throne Hall contains all the information you need to know about your vampire; Your stats, your weapons, your level, your HP and BP, and later on in the game, your Tattoos and your Luck.
Luck
5 luck means +3% on easy quests, +2% on far quest and +1% for pilgrims.
5 luck means when u ambush someone and have let's say 100 rep the game counts u like u would had 5% more so 105 rep, its only for succes of an ambush, not increasing ur hp.
5 luck more then ur opp means u got 1% more to critical hit, also ur max chance of being hit by an opponent drops by 1%, and your lowest chance to hit an opp is increased by 1%.
luck gives u more chance that an item u find on quest will have prefix and/or suffix
There is no intreractivity in the Throne Hall (no more sub menus), just all the info you will need to check every now and then.
Building Site
From here you will slowly start building your Square. Once again, details on these buildings can be found in the Tutorial.
They each have their own purpose, and generally each one is important as the other at the beginning of the game.
City Overview
The City Overview can be a handy little page, especially when you're in Zone 5 and attack times can be above an hour.
When you first click on the page, you will see 12 different Squares, one of them being your own. The other 11 will be fellow players and on this page you can see their name, number of Points they have, their Race, and their Clan.
On the far right you will also be given a number of options.
The SpyGlass - This Action lets you Spy on the Vampire, letting you see details about them they might not want you to know, such as their exact stats, their Equipment, and details about their Square.
The Sword - This one is the important one. This Sword will let you ambush your opponent, and this is where earlier's lesson in Melee will pay off. You can do 16 ambushes per day (8 if you don't have Premium) and you will soon find yourself running out of players to ambush on this page. So go up to where it says Sector and click one of the arrows, either left or right. This takes you to the next sector, and Hey Presto! More vampires!
N.B The further you venture away from your own Sector, the longer it will take to ambush Vampires!!
The Trumpet - This allows you to Siege fellow Vampires. We'll discuss this later as it isn't needed for a while
The Envelope - Vampires may be bloodsucking monsters, but their sociable beings. Click on the envelope to message a vampire. You can send only 1 message every minute.
Clan
After you've done a few ambushes, you may wish to join a clan.
A clan has many benefits. Usually they are run by at least semi-experienced vampires who can offer you tips, guides and help you out on anything you get stuck with. Also a great way to get talking with everyone, and slip your way into the BloodWars community.
One of the main reasons people join clans, is for protection from other Vampires. Many clans have alliances with other clans, but may be at war with others. Look for a clan in the Clan List section and click on it. What you need to look out for is this:
Recruitment OPEN (REQUIRES 1 POINTS)
What this means is that the clan is looking for vampires to join, and they only need to have 1 point. A clan like this is ideal for a New Blood.
N.B. 1 point = 1000 Points of Progress or Experience
Shop
In the shop you can by buy a few things when you start, in the different sub sections
The first is the Headwear.
When you are level one, all you can buy is a Cap. This is the most basic headwear in the game. When you reach Level 3, an item called a Hard Hat will appear in the shop. Buy this, it will give you a small amount of defense that could make all the difference in ambush.
The First bit of Jewellery you will be able to buy will be a Ring, at Level 4. This item will boost your appearance a little bit which will be important for building and Equipping other items.
Next is Armour. The only thing you can buy at Level 1 is a shirt, then you can get a jacket at Level 3, which I recommend getting.
Next is pants, and make sure you get Shorts. They give a nice little Agility boost for you Melee weapons and are easy to equip.
Next thing is weapons. Two sections for melee here. 1 handed and 2 handed. Try and get two knives at the start, then 2 daggers when you reach Level 3. Alternatively go for a mace, but look at the stats.
Effects: Chance to hit -14
Every 3 chance to hit = 1 Agility/Perception
So if you're mace has -14 to hit, its equivalent to -4 Agility. Keep this in mind, as you will need to be able to have higher agility than you're opponent if you're going to hit them.
Ranged weapons you can worry about later, they can only really be used effectively alot further down the line.
And what can I hear you say? "I thought I could use a big gun to kill everyone?
"You can, you can. Only thing is you can't buy them in shop, you have to either find them on a quest, or buy them on Auction.
So you're basic EQ at level 1 should look like..
Cap
Shorts
Knife
Knife
N.B You can buy a shirt at Level 1, but as the appearance req. is 11, you won't be able to equip perhaps until you buy 2 rings.
Armoury
This is wear you can Equip all of the new toys you got in the shop. Pretty simple really
Auction
You won't be able to use this until you reach Level 20, and you won't be able to sell anything until you have built an Old Market
Well of Souls
Here you can see all of the stones you have and lots more! Wow what do those do?
Stones
All of these stones have different purposes, but can be used on Auction as Currency.
Here's a quick run through of the 5 stones
Bloodstone - Used to upgrade items by one level
Heartstone - Worth 10 BS, and used to upgrade items from Good level to Good +5 level
Lifestone - Worth 5HS, or 50BS, and used to upgrade item from +5 to Good
Mergestone - Worth 3LS, or 150BS, and used to Merge 2 items together to make a better one
Soulstone - The Big Daddy - Worth 500 Bloodstones!!, this stone is used generally only as currency on Auction, or for Tattoos.
Finding yourself a stone
Stones can be gained a number of ways. When you progress through the game and earn experience you will earn the following:
* every 1000 experience points you will get 1 Bloodstone
* every 5000 experience points you will get 1 Heartstone
* every 10000 experience points you will get 1 Lifestone
* every 25000 experience points you will get 1 Mergestone
* every 50000 experience points you will get 1 Soulstone
When you do quests, there is a chance you will find a stone instead of an item
And on the auctions, when you sell items, people will give you stones for them.
Upgrade an item
Pretty self explanatory, you can upgrade your items with your BS as described.
Merge Items
Won't be using this for a while. Here you use your MS to merge to items into something kick ass.
Destroy Items
Here you can Destroy items you find on Quests for Mana and Nanites, which are needed to merge
Tattoos
I'll cover more on this later on, for now they can be something to aspire to.
And that's the Well of Souls, quite an important part of you game.
Prepare an Ambush
Here you can attack a player directly if you know their name by using the search box. This is also where you can see the timer for Ambushes, Spy reports and Sieges.
Begin A Quest
This will become and essential part of BW for you.
Here you can go Questing! Fun! Afraid not for a while guys n gals.
When you quest, you will randomly find a "challenge of sorts". These challenges will be based around your 9 different stats (Appearance, Strength, etc..).
In this section you can see the percentage chance of passing these Quests provided you have Premium activated.
In the beginning you will inevitably fail more than you will pass, but each time you pass, you will gain Blood, Points of Progress and quite possibly another item for your amoury. Persevere with this as the rewards can be great, and when you pass all 9, you gain lots of Points of Progress as part of a Task, which I will discuss below.
Expedition
I'll cover this later, you won't even need to think about them until your Level 20 anyway.
Tasks
When you go to tasks, you will see a number of challenges you must complete. After you do one, a number of others may be unlocked. This is the complete list of Zone 5 tasks:
1.Your poverty is of great concern to us, Apprentice. Your task is to upgrade
your Brothel to level 3.
2.Blood is the source of our power. Upgrade your Slaughterhouse to level 5.
3.Reach level 10.
4.A dangerous mutant broke through from the outer zone, you have to find and
stop it before more damage is done. You can track it in the Vicinity of the
City.
5.Explore the Vicinity of the City.
6.Every highly esteemed vampire needs a collection of artefacts. Complete all
Far Quests.
7.Only the best of the best are worth this task and only they posses items of
Power. Complete a Pilgrimage to the Wastelands.
8.A pack of werewolves is ravaging our square. You have to kill them by
attacking them in their own shelter.
9.Achieve stability by upgrading your Brothel to level 8 and Taxicab to level 2.
10.You were born to advance. Prove it by moving to IV zone.
N.B Not all of these tasks will be availabe when you first start, but will be eventually be unlocked when you complete others
Each task gives Points of Progress, NOT experience. What this means is, you will be able to spend these Points of Progress in Training, etc. But they won't count towards you levelling up.
Messages
In here you'll find Ambush/Quest Reports, Personal Messages from other players, Messages from the game notifying you that you have levelled up, completed a task etc, and a few more.
Notes
Simple section you can use to store info you need to remember, just remember to hit Save!
Ranking
Here you can see how you're getting on in the world! Check your own ranking, or friend's. See who is below you and above you.
Settings
Here you can set whether you use Arcana (see tutorial) in defense or not, Change the themes and backgrounds of the game, and some more Advanced Options.
Report to Operator
Use this link if you intend to have 2 players playing from the same IP adress, Eg. Yourself and your sibling. If you don't, the Developers may think you are cheating and have two accounts and you will get banned permanently.
Tutorial
Tutorial will explain the basic mechanics of the game, has a bit of back story about the game and explains things like how to hit your opponent and work out damage in greater detail.
Board
This link will take you to here, as you obviously know by now
Live Chat
Live Chat can be a fun place where you can talk to fellow players about anything and everything.
Simply wait for the Javascript to load, then type "/nick yournicknamehere" and start typing.
And that'll do for today folks
As I said uptop, all comments, suggestions, profanities welcome. I haven't even proofread it yet, so if you could point out any clerical errors that would also be appreciated.
Well done though; good job & good idea.
perhaps a second thread "intermitate guide" for level 20+ then in a few years when your level 100 a guide for level 50+ 