Like the topic says, As I casually play lotro and wait for the release of GW2, I thought i'd give VG a try since everyone is talking about it on here...

I absolutely love the mage-type class, and Sorcerer would best fit my play-style.

As for Race, I was thinking Dark Elf, since the stats would fit a sorcer pretty decent, correct?  Any better options?

And starting area, I'm completely lost when it comes to this question, everyone seems to have a different opinion-which do you like the best?

Race is fine I guess. I'd personally go one of the human races to have better control of stat distributions per level, but thats just me. I haven't really looked into what would be best for a sorcerer.

For starting area Isle of Dawn, once you've done all the quests there you will have amazing gear that will last for awhile, and 1 piece that levels up with you. Also it's generally a better tutorial than the mainlands.

After IoD, it really doesn't matter where you go, but you can't go wrong picking your races home continent/area.

I'm always one to say "play the race you want" but I'm not really a min/maxer.

As far as the starting area, the racical starting areas are very cool but they will have far less people than the isle so if this is your first time and you aren't one of those people who mind being alone for a bit, by all means [edit] try the mainland.

i would go with blood mage

Highelf is another great choice for Sorcerer - looks as beautiful as Darkelves, gives you more mana (and more spell crits) to work with, doesnt spend any points on stats that are useless to Sorc (+1 Dex from Darkelf) and if you would raid, you would still easily get your Int over the barrier, while Wis is much harder to max.

Dont underestimate crits. They are what will make you really do a lot of damage.

Sorcerer isnt really a class with issues in respect to mana, so the racial and the extra mana doesnt help as much as with, for example, Cleric. Still its not bad to have the extra reserve, and Sorcerers dont have an incombat way to get new mana (aside from a crystal summon that can only be done and used once per hour, so its more of an emergency ability).

Either way Darkelf is okay. I havent tried out my own Darkelf Sorcerer since I came back - but when I left, the racial wasnt working, which was a big bummer.

As a sidenote, you basically only need TWO crafters to completely equip a cloth wearing class: Tailor and Mineralogist. The Tailor will give you robes and the Minerlogist will give you jewelry and stone focus items.

You still need Leatherworker for the Saddlebag and any Blacksmith for the Horse shoes and the Jewelry Upgrade (one ingredient is metal sheet), but yeah, thats about it.

Just as a help if you want to choose a Crafter class (which is recommented because crafting is quite fun and beneficial in this game).

About harvesting, choose the harvest type for which you get +5 from your race (Skinning in case of Darkelves, Reaping in case of Highelves). This is a relevant bonus even on highlevel !

The other may depend upon your crafter class (Mining for any Blacksmith, Quarrying for Minerlogist, Lumberjacking for Carpenter, Skinning for Leatherworker, Reaping for Tailor), or choose whatever.

In case the later is the same, get the other harvest skill for your class (Lumberjacking for Mineralogist, Quarrying for Carpenter, Reaping for Leatherworker, Skinning for Tailor) as you can still do refine recipes on this and might need it for quests.

In case of the Blacksmiths, who really only work on metal, you can get the harvest skill that helps the upgrade (Jewel/Quarrying for Weaponsmith, Cloth/Reaping for Armorsmith). You still need another crafter for refining the ressource, though (Any Outfitter for Weaponsmith/Cloth Bolt, any Artificer for Armorsmith/[Diamond Cut] Gemstone Jewel).

Diplomacy has no class choices, so there are no special tips for that one. Except: do it, theres a lot of things you can do with diplo that you cannot get in other ways. Including items that are worn in diplo slots, but help your adventuring (the Isle of Dawn charm is only one example for this).

Originally posted by Wolfenpride

Race is fine I guess. I'd personally go one of the human races to have better control of stat distributions per level, but thats just me. I haven't really looked into what would be best for a sorcerer.

[...]

Sorcerer mostly needs Int and Wis. Vit for mana regeneration, but thats not really a priority.

Originally posted by Sovrath

As far as the starting area, the racical starting areas are very cool but they will have far less people than the isle so if this is your first time and you aren't one of those people who mind being alone for a bit, by all means try the isle.

Err, there is hardly any racial starter area that gets close to the nice story of Isle of Dawn.

There is absolutely nothing that stops you from starting on Isle of Dawn and doing your racial starter point afterwards, too. Just create a testing character to check out where your race starts - and there you go.

However, it doesnt work the other way around. Once you left Isle of Dawn - there is never a way back.

And only on Isle of Dawn you get an uber item that will help you with Adventuring, but especially A LOT with both Crafting and Diplo, until the end of the game. Also gives you a nice initial equipment, though you will fast outlevel it.

There is a way to get the same kind of item on a level 50 character, but its quite bothersome.

So yeah, there is NO good reason not to start on Isle of Dawn.

Originally posted by Adamantine

 

Originally posted by Sovrath

As far as the starting area, the racical starting areas are very cool but they will have far less people than the isle so if this is your first time and you aren't one of those people who mind being alone for a bit, by all means try the isle.

Err, there is hardly any racial starter area that gets close to the nice story of Isle of Dawn.

There is absolutely nothing that stops you from starting on Isle of Dawn and doing your racial starter point afterwards, too. Just create a testing character to check out where your race starts - and there you go.

However, it doesnt work the other way around. Once you left Isle of Dawn - there is never a way back.

And only on Isle of Dawn you get an uber item that will help you with Adventuring, but especially A LOT with both Crafting and Diplo, until the end of the game. Also gives you a nice initial equipment, though you will fast outlevel it.

There is a way to get the same kind of item on a level 50 character, but its quite bothersome.

So yeah, there is NO good reason not to start on Isle of Dawn.

There is something that is very different on the original starter areas. It feels a bit more organic to me but also feels a bit "longer". Now, I haven't done every quest in every starter area AND I generally avoid quests if at all possible but I also play for my own specific reasons so not doing most of the quest is par for the course for my style of play.

There is very much a sense of "racial belonging" in the original starter areas. A sense that this starter space belongs to you and your race.

The trial Isle plops you down there with no sense of space and suddenly you are running around learning the ropes.

In any case, my thought is that some people might want to experience the world first hand as opposed to an area that is designed to funnel all players through it (not saying it's bad but there is more of a sense of community in the isle than the starter areas of the main world.). I know that I really like experiencing a world first hand as opposed to going through a very designed tutorial. Others might be the same way.

They would then go to the original starter areas, see that there are very few people and maybe even get frustrated.

However, looking over my post it appears I mispoke. I indicated "if this is your first time and you aren't one of those people who mind being alone for a bit, by all means try the isle."

But clearly that should read "try the mainland" as one won't be very alone on the isle. I'll have to change that.

Originally posted by Sovrath

Originally posted by Adamantine

 

Originally posted by Sovrath

As far as the starting area, the racical starting areas are very cool but they will have far less people than the isle so if this is your first time and you aren't one of those people who mind being alone for a bit, by all means try the isle.

Err, there is hardly any racial starter area that gets close to the nice story of Isle of Dawn.

There is absolutely nothing that stops you from starting on Isle of Dawn and doing your racial starter point afterwards, too. Just create a testing character to check out where your race starts - and there you go.

However, it doesnt work the other way around. Once you left Isle of Dawn - there is never a way back.

And only on Isle of Dawn you get an uber item that will help you with Adventuring, but especially A LOT with both Crafting and Diplo, until the end of the game. Also gives you a nice initial equipment, though you will fast outlevel it.

There is a way to get the same kind of item on a level 50 character, but its quite bothersome.

So yeah, there is NO good reason not to start on Isle of Dawn.

There is something that is very different on the original starter areas. It feels a bit more organic to me but also feels a bit "longer". Now, I haven't done every quest in every starter area AND I generally avoid quests if at all possible but I also play for my own specific reasons so not doing most of the quest is par for the course for my style of play.

There is very much a sense of "racial belonging" in the original starter areas. A sense that this starter space belongs to you and your race.

The trial Isle plops you down there with no sense of space and suddenly you are running around learning the ropes.

In any case, my thought is that some people might want to experience the world first hand as opposed to an area that is designed to funnel all players through it (not saying it's bad but there is more of a sense of community in the isle than the starter areas of the main world.). I know that I really like experiencing a world first hand as opposed to going through a very designed tutorial. Others might be the same way.

They would then go to the original starter areas, see that there are very few people and maybe even get frustrated.

However, looking over my post it appears I mispoke. I indicated "if this is your first time and you aren't one of those people who mind being alone for a bit, by all means try the isle."

But clearly that should read "try the mainland" as one won't be very alone on the isle. I'll have to change that.

If you're into the whole lore thing, I would definitely go with skipping the IoD and going to your home town. You'd be surprised at how overwhelming it can be. At one point, you're jsut doing some quests, then all of a sudden it drags you into the whole diplomacy and crafting thing. Which you can skip altogether, but all three spheres of leveling comes at you very quickly. I think you'll end up liking the DIplomacy once you get the hang of it. For me when a quest dragged me towards the Diplomacy system, I couldn't stop going at it.

I would highly recommend you to play one character in the IoD and then another in at racial town. When I first started up ( back when the game first released), every racial starting town was amazing. It'll give you a whole different and cooler experience than when you're in the IoD. The starting towns are what made this game really great. The history of each town is just amazing. Just think about how each great nation developed and how they fell like the romans and the greeks etc. Where as when you start in the IoD theres really no sense of reason why you're there other than the fact that it explains how to play the game. The only downside is that you're going to be stuck playing by yourself pretty much if you decide to choose a starting town. But there should be some thats kinda populated.

Originally posted by csthao

[...] I think you'll end up liking the DIplomacy once you get the hang of it. [...]

Nope. Definitely not. I tried again and again and its just very extremely painfully boring.

I hate crafting too, but at least in the end I can CREATE THINGS. Thats a motivation.

I hate harvest as well, but it gives me ingredients to CREATE THINGS. Again a motivation.

Also, I can do crafting and harvesting without much thinking and keep chatting with people. Granted, there are some periods during crafting when you really need your concentration on it.

While: Diplomacy ? There are some benefits, like you actually get the lore of the game - but that is just not enough reason to go through all this pain and suffering. Was there ever be a more stupid idea than making a card game where the power of your cards define your chances ?

Originally posted by Adamantine

Originally posted by csthao

[...] I think you'll end up liking the DIplomacy once you get the hang of it. [...]

Nope. Definitely not. I tried again and again and its just very extremely painfully boring.

I hate crafting too, but at least in the end I can CREATE THINGS. Thats a motivation.

I hate harvest as well, but it gives me ingredients to CREATE THINGS. Again a motivation.

Also, I can do crafting and harvesting without much thinking and keep chatting with people. Granted, there are some periods during crafting when you really need your concentration on it.

While: Diplomacy ? There are some benefits, like you actually get the lore of the game - but that is just not enough reason to go through all this pain and suffering. Was there ever be a more stupid idea than making a card game where the power of your cards define your chances ?

Diplomacy = Guild hall plots, faction rewards, regional buffs, and plays some major roles in dungeon raids.

Its a strategy game. Its a much better alternative to reading about the lore of places compared to doing quests. When people do quests there aren't even a lot of players that actually read through the text anymore. Its not handed to you. IMO its like doing EQ 1's epic quest lines, where you actually have to ask questions to be able to advance, but instead you're using cards to find out what kind of information you can get from the NPC.

No, I repeat: its a card game.

Where getting better cards making winning the game easy.

I have met level 50 diplos that said they havent changed their deck since lowlevel. They dont need to. If you have great enough cards, you can handle any opponent. What kind of stupid game is that ?

Also, diplomacy, to me, should be something completely different. Diplomacy is what should be necessary for a darkelf to enter a human or highelven city.