Playing MMOs requires no skill physically, all you do in press buttons on a keyboard...lol

I've been playing MMORPGs for years and I'm still not so great at it, but I have fun.  Managing money is the kicker for me.  My characters somehow become compulsive shoppers and won't won't stay away from Auction Houses when they probably should.  The only advice I could give as far as money-making goes, is the advice someone once gave me:  never buy anything from an Auction House, and only go there to sell your items.  Although that can be tough to do, especially when you're in need of gear or something.

Its all about inteligence.

How good you are at learning.

Thinking, relating information, using logic, being creative, testing everything, compreension of game mechanics.

Simple understandings of patterns, specially time, difficulty, value, demand/offer, alternatives.

In the end, those who do "good", do so, not because they spend more time, but mainly because they are superior human beings.

Not worth getting on details.

edit. Important note: people suck so much nowadays because they were spoiled by the industry, people who came from the complex muds, pen and paper rpgs and ultima online learned by force how to survive in such environments, so they evolved a lot, people who just started got spoonfed the basics and lost the survival skills.

If there is something I need to know, I would normally check out the wiki, and see what the articles have to say. Normally, it's about skills or geer or mission walkthroughs. It amazing how much information the wiki can hold, and sometimes, they can even change my playing style, especially if I had been doing something wrong previously. Yes, there are some people who tend to look down on research, saying that they take all the fun out of a game, but sometimes, it is good to do some reasearch first before going a certain route, because for all you know, just jumping into it things and doing it wrong would be be a huge disappointment later.

I also tend to check the forums and in-game chat as well, because those are the places where people share their information, and what they've learnt in the game previously. Nothing wrong with learning from other people actually, and sometimes, their knowledge might actually make or break your gameplay.

But then again, that's just me. I hate asking people for  help (which is something that I dislike about myself actually), so that's why I tend to fall back on research and forums.

Originally posted by Twinfun5

Hey everybody!

I have played alot of MMO's, and some I make it pretty far in, but my question is: How do people get good at MMO's so quickly? In CBT's and OBT's, players seem to know so much about the game already. The most time I put into a single MMO has been Twelve Sky 2, with my 112, but it seems that people always know so much more about the game than I do by the time I reach that stage. Where my character build may feature many mistakes, or I'm never as decked out as other people my level, other players seem to have the perfect character layout, and all the best gear. How do they do it? Most people tell me that joining a guild of experience MMO gamers makes a difference, but how do they get so much information in such a short period of time? My main goal is to become a merchant player in at least one MMO, as I have never been "rich" in any MMO I have ever played.

Thanks in advance!

Many people MAY disagree with me on this one but i was a popular businessman in SWG (Shipwright) and i got my millions through trial and error, everyone told me to sell certain things at a set value, i disregarded this advice as i found out that most people bought the required resourses they used then prices their items on the cost of resourse + profit. Best advice i can suggest for becomign a merchant character in any game is to get the resourses/items you need to make anything yourself as it's then pretty much pure profit to you, sell cheaper than everyone else, not by much but enough to get you noticed. once you have regular customers offer them discounts for items they purchase regularly. Word of mouth will soon travel about the game and you'll get more people coming to you for things. Forget about dropping market value of items as it's my experience in MMO's that many people overcharge all the time and others follow suit thinking it's the average price.

Hope this helps out and good luck.

min-maxing for progression and skill/stats/spells.

know your function (roll) through and through

metagaming (especially in PvP games) -- usually also involves knowing everyone else's function(roll) through and through.

I can't believe how many people actually suggest wikis, asking "experienced" players, etc..  What do you people do with a new game?  Suck until someone tells you how not to?

I don't mean to sound crass, and I'm joking for the most part, but so much that people ask about is right in the game.  I don't know if I've ever played a game that didn't come with the information built-in that was necessary for knowing how/what to do with your class, or what your class would be good at.  For example, I recently played a good stint in EQ2.  I would constantly watch people ask in the global channels what stats or AAs were good for their characters, etc., when some extremely simple common sense would've answered their question.  You press [insert hotkey for char window here], open your info, and mouse over the stats.  Bam!  There's the detailed information on what each stat affects.  You open your achievements and mouse over each one, and BAM there's a detailed description of what each one will do you for.  If you make a miniscule amount of effort, you quickly find out what's required to advice down the lines, and common sense combined with actually playing your toon will answer what will be most valuable for your needs.  Have trouble dying too fast?  Let's see: armor makes me take less damage, and stamina gives me higher HP.  Living just fine but need more damage?  Strength for my warrior, or intelligence for my mage will increase my damage - let me get more of that!  Really, it's that simple.

Don't get me wrong, I do understand discussing character builds, and reading up on what other people are doing and how their builds work is a great practice for min/maxing your character once you've reached a point where you need that kind of thing, but it always irks me to see new players who just began the game trying to create the perfect toon right from the out-set, and start off by asking "what's the most needed/best/OP/FoTM class??!!111!1".  Far too many people have forgotten to just play the damned games and enjoy the experience, and forget that a big part of the enjoyment is that of discovery.

On the point of making money - this comes with experience, and again some common sense.  Simple tips would include: what's valuable to you will likely be valuable to others.  If you skip crafting, you're missing the knowledge of what materials may be valuable.  If you try to pass by with crappy gear/spells/etc., then you may not realize the value those items have to others.  The simple thing I've found is that the hardest things to get are the most valuable, and that's exploitable in many ways.  Furthermore, far too many people have little to no patience for markets/auctions these days, and will undercut to insane degrees to make short gains.  I always love buying an item that's worth loads from someone who just put it up cheap, then reselling it a short time later for double/triple what I paid, if not more.  Again, though, it just has to do with paying attention, and know what's what.

End of the day, time does not, and will not always = skill.  Common sense and a basic cursory knowledge of WTF is going on around you will take you much, much further.  Far too many people simply refuse to do the #1 thing they need to  - pay attention.  After all, it's not rocket science, it's just a game.

What a lot of people here aren't mentioning either is that many of the "1337" gamers are in the beta testing for many games giving them a leg up on everyone else when a game or expansion pack is released.

The rest has been covered.

After you've played these games for so long,(for some of us back to PnP, and MUDS) the core elements just don't change all that much.  It's just a matter of figuring out how the new game you're playing has implemented it.