Okay, Ive heard a lot of positive things about this game, and its time to give it a try.

West coast US player, any suggestions on what server?

And is there any differences between the factions?

Dont rush it, easily can get to end game in no time. Take your time, explore, find "hidden" quests off the beaten path, and if you make a mistake on your wheel or skills- dont restart just keep killing to correct it. Only difference between factions is their rank quests and starting areas i do believe, well different pre-made builds also.

Originally posted by Onomas

Dont rush it, easily can get to end game in no time. Take your time, explore, find "hidden" quests off the beaten path, and if you make a mistake on your wheel or skills- dont restart just keep killing to correct it. Only difference between factions is their rank quests and starting areas i do believe, well different pre-made builds also.

good advice. Play with the light off too. Soak up the atmosphere.

Take your time, enjoy yourself, and don't worry too much about perfection out of the gate.  You will eventually have all the abilities and all the weapons, but pick 2 to start with and focus on your active and passive abilities.  Once you have that down, you can branch out.   Here's a couple good primers:

http://forums.secretworld.com/showthread.php?t=52907

http://yokaiblog.wikidot.com/guides:build-mechanics

Thanks guys.

Trust me end-game is not my game.

Still havent hit max level in GW2, have only ever had three max toons in four years of WoW. Only one max in SWToR and that only because I rushed for the "month free for max character" promo, and I have never, ever completed  the main line quest in any of the Skyrin, Oblivion, Morrowwind, Arena, etc game.

For me, is always about the journey.

So I love ranged classes, is magic viable say versus ranged firearms?

Originally posted by steamtank
just be aware a lot of quest giversa atm are broken according to said other thread.

I play 8 hours a day doing missions currentlly and didnt see this once. So ... Yeah ...

Originally posted by Hokie

Thanks guys.

Trust me end-game is not my game.

Still havent hit max level in GW2, have only ever had three max toons in four years of WoW. Only one max in SWToR and that only because I rushed for the "month free for max character" promo, and I have never, ever completed  the main line quest in any of the Skyrin, Oblivion, Morrowwind, Arena, etc game.

For me, is always about the journey.

 

So I love ranged classes, is magic viable say versus ranged firearms?

Anything is viable in pve....if your asking about pvp...well....don't ;)

Ranged magic works ok, try it and see. The great thing about TSW is the skill wheel allows for many different types of build, no reason you can't go one of the magic and one of the weapons at the same time in the same build. Blood, Chaos, AR, Shotgun, Pistol etc can all work with each other. They may not all work perfectly synergistically, but it's all viable.

Originally posted by Zinzan

Originally posted by Hokie

Thanks guys.

Trust me end-game is not my game.

Still havent hit max level in GW2, have only ever had three max toons in four years of WoW. Only one max in SWToR and that only because I rushed for the "month free for max character" promo, and I have never, ever completed  the main line quest in any of the Skyrin, Oblivion, Morrowwind, Arena, etc game.

For me, is always about the journey.

 

So I love ranged classes, is magic viable say versus ranged firearms?

Anything is viable in pve....if your asking about pvp...well....don't ;)

Ranged magic works ok, try it and see. The great thing about TSW is the skill wheel allows for many different types of build, no reason you can't go one of the magic and one of the weapons at the same time in the same build. Blood, Chaos, AR, Shotgun, Pistol etc can all work with each other. They may not all work perfectly synergistically, but it's all viable.

Yep -- essentially, you can have every abiity (525) and and every weapon (9, including magic + aux weapons) in the game unlocked eventually.  Start with 2 you like and focus on thoise, but then you can branch out into other weapons.  Key thing to remember is the active / passive ability combos.  Find passive s that use the conditions your actives trigger.  For example, if yoour active triggers Impair, find passive abilities (they can be from ANY weapon) that use Impair.

Originally posted by Ortwig

Yep -- essentially, you can have every abiity (525) and and every weapon (9, including magic + aux weapons) in the game unlocked eventually.  Start with 2 you like and focus on thoise, but then you can branch out into other weapons.  Key thing to remember is the active / passive ability combos.  Find passive s that use the conditions your actives trigger.  For example, if yoour active triggers Impair, find passive abilities (they can be from ANY weapon) that use Impair.

Yep +1, what Ortwig said.

If you like that kinda stuff then it's like a mini-game inside the game. Sure, you can look up decks and combos on forum and TSW sites, but if you don't mind the time (and now there's no monthly fee, so time is not an issue), you can find great combos.

I once spent a whole weekend with the Ability search panel :) great  tool, and it's like a math-based puzzle minigame to build up decks.

Originally posted by Hokie

Thanks guys.

Trust me end-game is not my game.

Still havent hit max level in GW2, have only ever had three max toons in four years of WoW. Only one max in SWToR and that only because I rushed for the "month free for max character" promo, and I have never, ever completed  the main line quest in any of the Skyrin, Oblivion, Morrowwind, Arena, etc game.

For me, is always about the journey.

 

So I love ranged classes, is magic viable say versus ranged firearms?

You will like the game then if your in it for the journey and go slow.  Magic works fine.  Elementalism is very vey powerful.  Blaze is probably the highest single target nuke in the game.  To be most efficient as a damage dealer in game though your going to want to make use of two weapons (you can equip two at a time and an auxiliary weapon) 1 combo builder that builds resources for both weapons and two finishers one for each weapon.

Great tips. Once again thanks guys.

So any server suggestions before I get to deep on the toon I created? Im not an RP'r although I can play in character, what Im looking for are full(ish) servers.

Originally posted by Hokie

Great tips. Once again thanks guys.

 

So any server suggestions before I get to deep on the toon I created? Im not an RP'r although I can play in character, what Im looking for are full(ish) servers.

You can group across any server, so it doesn't matter so much which one you pick.  Arcadia and Leviathan are the RP servers. It's been busy with all the new players so you should be good!  :)

Originally posted by Ortwig

Originally posted by Hokie

Great tips. Once again thanks guys.

 

So any server suggestions before I get to deep on the toon I created? Im not an RP'r although I can play in character, what Im looking for are full(ish) servers.

You can group across any server, so it doesn't matter so much which one you pick.  Arcadia and Leviathan are the RP servers. It's been busy with all the new players so you should be good!  :)

Yep as he said.  All servers are linked together.  Chat is linked together, and you can move freely between any server.  The server you chose is just where you are placed when you log in but your adventrues and grouping may take you to other servers.  Its one big happy paranoid community!

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Originally posted by Zinzan

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Originally posted by Hokie Thanks guys. Trust me end-game is not my game. Still havent hit max level in GW2, have only ever had three max toons in four years of WoW. Only one max in SWToR and that only because I rushed for the "month free for max character" promo, and I have never, ever completed  the main line quest in any of the Skyrin, Oblivion, Morrowwind, Arena, etc game. For me, is always about the journey.   So I love ranged classes, is magic viable say versus ranged firearms?

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Anything is viable in pve....if your asking about pvp...well....don't ;)

Ranged magic works ok, try it and see. The great thing about TSW is the skill wheel allows for many different types of build, no reason you can't go one of the magic and one of the weapons at the same time in the same build. Blood, Chaos, AR, Shotgun, Pistol etc can all work with each other. They may not all work perfectly synergistically, but it's all viable.

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Originally posted by Hokie

Great tips. Once again thanks guys.

 

So any server suggestions before I get to deep on the toon I created? Im not an RP'r although I can play in character, what Im looking for are full(ish) servers.

I'm not an RPer (or rather, I rarely RP, but focus on 'immersion', so RP servers help with that), but I'm comfortable with Arcadia, the first RP server (Leviathan opened afterward).

Or I guess 'dimension'. Technically, everyone plays together - 'dimension' simply designates the 'default instance layer' you're on, unless there are server issues or you group with others.

Originally posted by UNH0LYEV1L

Originally posted by Ortwig

Originally posted by Hokie

Great tips. Once again thanks guys.

 

So any server suggestions before I get to deep on the toon I created? Im not an RP'r although I can play in character, what Im looking for are full(ish) servers.

You can group across any server, so it doesn't matter so much which one you pick.  Arcadia and Leviathan are the RP servers. It's been busy with all the new players so you should be good!  :)

Yep as he said.  All servers are linked together.  Chat is linked together, and you can move freely between any server.  The server you chose is just where you are placed when you log in but your adventrues and grouping may take you to other servers.  Its one big happy paranoid community!

Even trading, mails and auctions are cross-dimension if I'm not mistaken. I think the chosen dimension restricts only 1 thing, the pvp in warzone, which is dimension-only. So if you aren't interested in that, then dimension choosing won't matter much. And if you do plan to pvp, you can transfer your characters any time later into a 'better' dimension :)