I always appreciate noob posts on which ever game I'm familar with because it brings a sort of nostalgia to me.  So this post goes out to all you Fallen Earth vets.

I chose to go melee from various posts I read about ammunition costs / management so I wanted to avoid that money/timesink for my first character.  I was rtfm'ing and I saw a sweet axe that the CHOTA used, which had me sold on melee pretty much instantly too.  Without much trouble I was already running around in the world doing quests (and actually reading them for once!).  That's really what's drawing me so far, is the story line, and the simple fact that NPCs swear at you.  Everyone is kinda crazy (I guess you would get that way if you were cloned and couldn't actually ever die).  It's really easy to get sucked into the world and lore.  

Soon after I found myself farming wild dogs for rugged leather (which sells nicely to the vendor) and meat (to make grilled chicken.. because everything tastes like chicken right?). I was dual-weilding and frantically left/right clicking, eventually my character kinda got bugged into this insanity of constant swinging.  So I was able to just run my guy around to each mob and chew them up with great efficiency.  I got tons of loot/xp and stopped questing for a bit to do some good ol' fasion grinding (and if everything wasn't a clone... by grinding I mean mass genocide of wild dogs).

Then I went back in town and bought up as many 11 chip crafting manuals as I could, I spent a good portion of the time just making mental notes of valueable materials (which stuff to just vendor trash and which to bank).  Then I hit a brick wall.

I'm level 5 now and I realized that I've capped all of my basic gathering skills and have almost enough mats to cap some crafting skills too.  At that point I got kind of demotivated (I had been playing for a long number of hours though so it might just be a side-effect there too).  I realized that if I wanted to do crafting then I'd need to start investing AP into intelligence and perception.  But crafting really is pretty rewarding, in a very 'live off the land' kind of sense. 

Any of you vets out there regret investing in crafting (because end-game it's just cheaper to buy stuff, and now your character is kinda gimp?)  Or wish that your end game character had a bit of crafting cause it's a good way to be self-sufficient?

afg: "Away from game"

L4D and two Eve Online clients mining and hauling: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcPi4Xuy2bM

Currently I'm harvesting in Darkfall and grinding Aion.  Dual monitor, same computer.

Anyone else out there play more then one MMO at the same time?  If so, which ones?

Excellent review OP, on par with exactly what I've experienced.  One thing I would add is the seamless integration with the website so you can check your character's stats view quests is pretty neat.

If you want a polished cookie cutter MMO Aion is for you.

Originally posted by garbonzo

Ok I started.  Thanks for all of the great pointers.  Yeah...bank often.  I've only had one supreme ganking so far, but I was pretty loaded down with loot for a noob - set me back an hour.  

The UI is still a little confusing.  Can you really not just use a skill directly from your hotbar?  I have to stop what I'm doing, disarm, select the skill, then left click to use it.  Seems pretty cumbersome but I guess if everyone has to do it that way it's a level playing field.  I'm just wondering how a spell-leaning player uses more than one spell.  Do you have to change spells like this?  Incidentally I haven't been able to get a spell to cast - only rest and return to my binding spot.  I'll figure it out, but yeah there's no oxygen at the top of this learning curve..

Here's another quick question: I started playing with harvesting - wood.  I got a wood cutting axe and I've whacked about 15 trees 3-4 times each but each time it says the woodcutting failed.  Is this just the noob skill-up phase and it will work eventually? It started to get a little ridiculous.  I mean, what idiot can't get at least a little usable wood with an axe even with no experience.  If my character is that incompetent, he should be missing fingers or a leg at this point.  

Honestly the noob loot you get in the first hour of play is nothing compared to the loot you get after playing for a month or so.  Again, don't worry too much about losing it.

Yea, the UI is unique. It grows on you eventually; I suggest clicking on the options button from the main menu and going to input bindings.  There you can map/re-map pretty much any action you need to in-game ( or you can use /bind [key] [action] ie: /bind left_shit a_Sprint or /bind numpad0 Gui_Hotbar_Col_0_Row_0). I usually have food and pots bound to my number pad so you can use 'em without switching hotbars.

To cast a spell, you need to equip your staff, press 'r' to ready it, then pick the spell you want from the hotbar.  Then just aim, and left click to cast it.

Ya, you'll fail a lot at harvesting during with low skill.  But every time you whack that tree, you're gaining Strength and Vitality; plus you're getting better at harvesting.  After a long enough time, you'll be able to drain a node entirely without needing to rest.  I suggest busting out a movie or something while you harvest, or cleaning all the beer cans piled on your desk.

Join an established clan with a decent sized alliance.  Don't lose to much heart when you die and lose your loot, because you'll never lose the skills you gained while fighting stuff.

It's FFA PvP, always watch your back, and seriously join a clan.