A Beginners Guide - But not just for Beginners!!! - Section2

Part 5 - Level-Up Point Allocation

This will be a short section as it is quite simple really! ALWAYS put ALL of your level-up points in to DAMAGE. This wont have much of an effect until you start making some serious levels but you will need to plan ahead. Once you get past level 186 you will start to struggle with getting enough damage to still one hit kill. This is where the Berserk buff will be needed and it only has an effect on your Level-Up damage allocation. I use Berserk350 potions every hunt now and after having all points in Damage this gives me about an extra 500 damage.

If you have not put all your points in damage then you may be OK. You could probably get away with having 50 or so points elsewhere, but any more than that and you will need to do a reset, like I did which is painful for two reasons.

1) It costs 75FSP!!
2) your index finger will drop off and you risk RSI as you have to click once for each point. I did it at level 250 so had to do 500 mouse clicks which took me about 20 minutes or so!!!

Part 6 - Skill Point Allocation

This is really up to you and the way you want to play the game. I always knew that I wanted to have the most "sellable" buffs so I went with standard levelling buffs to begin with. I would say that this is the best option, and many other players would agree.

So, you get 5 points per level and this is how I did it:

1) First concentarte only on Treasure Hunter. You want to max out your skills to make them the most useful and so I put all my points up to level 21 in TH.

2) I then saved the points from the next 4 levels until I made it to level 25. Now you will want to concentarte all your points in to Adept Learner.

3) I carried on maxing out AL and once done, saved the points until I got to level 75. Once you go past level 50 you can also go back and add another 5 points to TH, as for every 50 levels you make, the maximum points you can have in each skill goes up by 5.

4) Once AL was maxed, I saved my points again until I got to level75 where my points started going in to Merchant and Librarian. Again, concentrate on one until it is maxed and then do the other.

5) Once these were maxed, including going back to TH and AL to add another 5 points at level 100, I saved all my points again until level 150.

6) Now you should have TH, AL, Mer, and Lib all maxed and at 150, add another 5 points to each. Once done, start putting points into Dark Curse. In order to do this you must put 10 points each in to Rage, Fury and Berserk as they are all linked.

7) Concentrate on maxing out Dark Curse and save any left over points until level 200, maxing out the others again by adding 5 points at level200.

Now you will want to go for Conserve and Doubler. You should have enough points saved to put 75 points in Doubler. You dont need any more than this at the moment as Doubler works in blocks of 50 (50 = x2, 100=x3, 150=x4 - the maximum). The other 25 points for Doubler will come from the Fury Caster Enhancement that the Guild gives you, so this is the one skill you don't need to max out. Put any left over points in Animal Magnetsim and once maxed, save the points for level 250.

9) Once at 250, go back and add another 5 points to each of the others to max them out, and add another 50 to Doubler (giving 125 + 25 form Fury Caster) to give it a x4 bonus. Now start adding Points to Wither and keep going until maxed out and then save any points left over until level 300.

10) Once at 300, add another 5 points to each of the maxed out skills, except Doubler as you cant get it any higher than the x4 you already have. Now start putting points in to Death Wish and once maxed, save the points until level 400, not forgetting to add the extra 5 points to each at level 350.

11) Once at level 400 add the 5 extra points again, and you should have a good amount of points saved (I am at level 354 and have 399 points saved up. Its now up to you which ones you go for but I will certainly be getting Summon Shiled Imp which is one of the most sellable buffs in the game. Some players charge 2 or 3 FSP for each one so its a great way to make a load of cash. You will only need to put 125 points in as it is similar to doubler, in that it works in blocks of 50 levels and there is no extra benefit passed level 150. I will also be going for Counter Attack as this is another very sellable buff. I havn't quite decided on the level to get yet but I am thinking level 50 (so will only need to put 25 points in) as this seems to be the one most commonly used. You may want to go with Spectral Knight and/or Keen Edge at this point also, or maybe you want to do some inventing and get Inventor 1 and Extractor.

12) Once you have decided on the buffs for level 400, max them out and save for level 500 (adding the extra 5 again at 450 and finally at 500). Once here I would say that Death Dealer is a must as nearly every player who is one hitting over level 200 will need it. If you decided to go for the Inventing buffs, you can also now get Inventor 2. Buff Master is also an Option, and if you are going to be selling a lot of buffs it is a good one to sell, and also to cast on yourself as it gives a chance to use less stamina when buffing.

13) Now its up to you what extra buffs you get, I havn't even thought that far ahead yet but it seems that no one has really bothered with the Level600 Buffs apart from maybe Flinch. I will add some more here when I get there, which wont be for a while yet!!

I know that all looks a bit long winded and complicated so dont try and learn it all now! Come back every now and then and at each milestone (levels 25, 75, 150 and then every 50 after) to see what you should be doing and planning for next. Also, this is my opinion on whats best and you may decide to go for getting some more Offensive buffs. My theory was that I went for the buffs I used most myself and these will be the best ones I can sell to others.


Part 7 - Upgrades

If you are lucky enough to find yourself some FSP then this section will give you some advice on how to spend them.

I would say the first and most important upgrade to get is maximum stamina. The first thing I wanted to make sure was that I never wasted any stamina by overflowing. I was able to hunt twice per day in the beginning so i aimed for 800 stamina to start. I then decided I was spending too much on buffs all the time and could only afford enough time in my day to hunt once. So I upped my max stamina to 1600 (65 stamina gain per hour multiplied by 24 hours = 1560). This saved me so much on buffs.

1600 stamina is enough to never overflow and waste stamina if you can get on once a day. Once you have this I would suggest going for the +1 stamina gain per hour. It is a very expensive upgrade, but with more stamina every hour your max stam will fill up quicker, and you will have more stamina each day with which to make gold. I tried to do this in blocks of 5 upgrades each time and I upgraded my max stamina in line with it. Still going on the hunting once per day theory:

65 stam gain multiplied by 24 hours = 1560 max stam needed
70 stam gain multiplied by 24 hours = 1680 max stam needed
75 stam gain multiplied by 24 hours = 1800 max stam needed
80 stam gain multiplied by 24 hours = 1920 max stam needed
85 stam gain multiplied by 24 hours = 2040 max stam needed
90 stam gain multiplied by 24 hours = 2160 max stam needed

Once you get to this stage I would start thinking about hunting once every two days, or if you cant get on every two days then do this sooner. All you need to do is mulitply the max stam need for your stamina gain per hour by 2. Then go on and make it every 3 days and finally every 4. This is the stage I am at now and it makes my hunting fairly profitable at times. I need to spend anything up to 10-12FSP per hunt on buffs and potions, so if I had to do this every day and only use 2000 stamina, I would be making a big loss. I wouldn't suggest going any higher than this as I use Doubler 750 (x16) and I have just enough time to finish my hunt before my buffs start running out.

How often you hunt is up to you and the time you have but the less often you hunt, and the more stamina you use in one hunt, will mean you make better profits and be more efficient.

Inbetween doing all this you may want to purchase extra Backpack slots as the 3 you are given in the beginning makes it really hard to hold on to anything much. I upgraded this gradually as I felt a need to and now have 50 slots. 9 of these are taken up with my "offline defence set" which is very handy to have and will cut down or eliminate the PvP attacks. Since having this set (from about level100 or so) I have only been attacked once in PvP and that was whilst I was hunting anyway! I have never been attacked with my defence set on. It takes too much effort for someone to break through a defence of over 4000!

Once you are happy with your maximum stamina, stamina gain per hour and Backpack slots I would suggest the XP Gain Per hour upgrade. Again, this is an expensive one and I did about 10 in the early days, and then once I was happy with everything else, I maxed it out. I now get over 18000 XP every hour and can make a whole level in just under a week from doing nothing. This may seem small but over the days, weeks and months this soon adds up and helps you make levels a lot faster. It will also help if you come across a hard level as you can just stop hunting when you get to it and then let your XP gain take you through.

As for any of the other upgrades, well I think most of them are pointless. I bought an extra Bank Deposit, I rarely use 2 everyday but when I hunt its nice to deposit once in my own bank and then once in the Guild bank. Adding extra enemies/allies is up to you, I havn't felt the need to yet as I add any other players names to my notepad. Extra Bio characters depends on how much you want to write in your bio, I have bought a few extra so I can fit in my buffs and prices. You may want to reset your skill or level-up points if you havn't done them correctly, but that is very expensive. I had to do it!! +1 Max Auctions is one you might want if you plan on selling lots of things, I have only bought one extra for a total of 3 and I find that does me fine.

What definately NOT to buy:
+25 stamina - 1 FSP for 25 stamina is VERY expensive and only players with a lot of cash or FSP use it to power level.
+10 Gold Gain per Hour - TOTAL RIP OFF!!! someone worked out just recently that if you max it out from scratch, it takes 7 years to make your money back!!
+1% XP towards next level - just not necessary and its only "buying your way thorugh the game". Plus it will cost 200FSP per level!! Think about it.
Reset All Bank Deposits - Pointless, there are always other things to do with your gold until your bank deposits reset, send them to a Guild mate (like me, I will always hold on to any extra gold for you). Or buy an FSP or 2 as these are safe.

Part 8 - Ways to Earn FSP

The are several ways in which to earn FSP in the game, with the easiest and quickest way being to donate real money to the game. If you are going to do it this way then its best if you can wait for the "20% Extra" bonus which usually comes around about once every 6-8 weeks.

If you don't want to, or can't donate real money then here are some of the other ways:

1) You can convert Gold to FSP in the Marketplace under the Actions menu. They usually cost around 120 - 130K Gold each. All you do is put in the number of FSP that you want to buy, and then the amount of gold you are willing to pay. I always try and go a couple of hundred gold higher than the highest offer, just to make sure I get them quickly. This is also a good way to protect your gold after or during a hunt.

2) The "Free Reward" offers. I have done a few of these myself, some paid out and some didn't but I think they have improved them since then. Go to the "Point Rewards" under the Upgrades menu. I would strongly suggest setting up another email account as they will generate a whole heap of junk mail. I also would not do any that you have to pay anything for or any that ask for particularly sensitive or personal information. Some simply require an email address, but obviously these ones only pay 2 or 3 FSP, but that could be enough to get you started!!

3) Buying and Selling - This can be risky and requires you to know a lot about the prices of certain items and how much players are willing to pay. Quite simply, you look around to buy items at a low price, and then try to sell them on for a higher price. One of the best ways I have found to do this is to buy directly from players selling "Sets" of items, and then sell them individually in the Auction House. I made a fortune buying and selling Cockatrice Sets a few months ago, in this way.

4) Plant Farming - I tried this one a few months ago aswell, and although it can be a bit time consuming, it certainly works. Buy an FI800 potion (50-70K each) then get Animal Magnetism and Conserve buffs. Then go hunting creatures that drop plants. I suggest ones that drop Jademare (currently worth 15-20K Gold) or Blood Blooms (worth about 10-12K Gold). You wont need to find too many of these and sell them on before its all pure profit. The best thing to do is to try and find someone you can sell them to in bulk, rather than having to wait for the Auction House. I used about 1200 Stamina and made about 20FSP in total.

5) Inventing - A bit of a risky business which involves "Inventing" potions and items by using other items and plants.. You first need to buy or find the recipes and then click on them to learn them forever. Then depending on which potion or item you are making, you will need to buy certain items, plants and bottles. For a more in depth Guide as to the types of potions and items and what you need to make each of them look here:

http://wiki.fallensword.com/index.php/Inventing
http://wiki.fallensword.com/index.php/Category:Recipes

You need at least a couple of extra Backpack slots to be able to hold everything, the more the better really. I would suggest getting the buffs Inventor 1, Inventor 2 and Extractor. These improve the chances of extracting the materials from the plants, inventing the item, and also gives a chance to not use some or all of the components used. Once you have the finished potion/item, sell it on in the AH. You wont make a profit if you only make 1 or 2 potion as some will fail. If you really want to make a profit then you need to be looking at making 8 or more in one go. The more you can make and sell in one session, the bigger your profits will be.

6) Buff Selling - Simple really, sell your buffs to other players. Dont bother until you get at least level 135 buffs, and it wont be really profitable until you get level 150 buffs. Advertise in your bio what your prices are and then also post in the FS Forum "Skill Trading" section. If your buffs are level 150 or above, then advertise in the FS BOX or ShoutBox (costs 1 FSP) that you are selling buffs, if your buffs are lower than 150 then you wont be able to make enough gold to cover the advertising cost. If you have a lot of stamina and intend to be selling buffs for a while (more than 1 hour), then I suggest buying the Buff Master buff which gives a chance to use 1/3 less stamina when casting buffs. I wouldn't suggest selling buffs until you have at least 1000 stamina, as you will go through it quite quickly and will struggle to make any money back spent on Buff Master and advertising. However, this can be extremely profitable and I have made over 50FSP, but that was using a full 8000 stamina.