Hitchhiker's guide to the Middle Earth (newbie guide)

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porkzar
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Hitchhiker's guide to the Middle Earth (newbie guide)

Post by porkzar »

HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE MIDDLE EARTH


FOREWORDS

Skip to GUIDE part if you're just after the information in here and not about my personal ramblings.

First of all I'd like to thank all of the developers for creating just the kind of game I've been looking for for many years, combining elements from roguelikes with multiplayer elements similar to MultiUserDungeons/Diablo-like games.

This handbook was written with basic understanding of the game after some weeks of playing and realizing how cumbersome it might be for newcomers with the amount of keybinds, macroing and reading needed. I've tried to recruit many friends to this game and some have been put off by the sheer amount of keybinds and information you need to remember just to survive in the hostile environments.

Personally I had somewhat easier time getting used to the game and the much more hectic combat compared to traditional turn-based roguelikes. Having played roguelikes/MUDs/Diablo-like games for past 20ish years helped alot in adapting to this kind of game.

Learning curve seems to be quite steep for people new to roguelike genre and purpose of this guide is to make newcomers life a bit easier by listing all the crucial survival tips I've gathered so far and not rely so much on extensive reading of the TomeNET guide, which is really great source of information but takes alot of time to read through.

I will be explaining basic functions of the game in short and more info about the topic in question will be linked to relevant guide pages.

I would highly recommend everyone to read atleast this part of TomeNET guide, which explains the basic keybinds, character creation etc. before reading any further of this post. http://www.tomenet.eu/guide.php?chapter=0

GUIDE

Choosing class, race and mode

TomeNET Guide has a list of good race and class combos for starters and I won't go into any more detail here aside from listing my own personal favourites and giving a brief description of the classes I've played myself.

More info about each class here http://www.tomenet.eu/guide.php?chapter=6.5

If you're making a meleeish class, make sure to look at this table before deciding on STR and DEX to get rough idea of how many Blows per Round you will get http://www.tomenet.eu/guide.php?chapter=6.5a

Beginner-friendly classes: Archer, Druid, Mindcrafter, Ranger(?), Rogue, Warrior

Not-so-beginner-friendly classes: Adventurer, Istar, Priest, Runemaster, Shaman, Mimic

CLASSES

Here's a list of classes I've tried with brief description of their capabilities:

Druid, the beginner-friendly martial artist/shapeshifter/caster

Druid relies heavily on shapeshifting combined with martial arts and nice support from druid spell schools and optionally few mage schools. They learn new forms every 5 levels which can be seen here http://www.tomenet.eu/guide.php?chapter=6.7b . Best part about druids is that they can move in forest and mountains starting from 5lvl which makes early game alot easier when you can go fight/hide in forest/mountains against those nasty ranged monsters.

Mindcrafter, the mentally beefed up warrior

Mindcrafter is basically a warrior with some psionic capabilities, they excel in melee and have wide array of psychic spells to help them in various encounters.

Ranger, the jack of many trades

Ranger can be build in many different ways. They get access to many mage spell schools, are good in melee/ ranged combat and can use trapping. Rangers get dualwield also like rogues and warriors do, which makes them rather deadly in melee if built towards it.

Runemaster, the weirdo caster/rogue hybrid

Runemaster is a really interesting class, they can cast runes of pure elemental magic and combine those runes to get all kinds of different effects and powerful attack spells. High level runies can enchant their gear with sigils which no other class seems to be able to do. They can be built also to have decent melee capabilities but tend to do most of their damage with spells from range. They might not be too beginner-friendly with their complex rune casting system but once you get the hang of it, I can highly recommend this class.

MODE

Choosing mode is really up to you. If you're familiar with the genre and feel a bit masochistic, choose Normal(3 resurrections) or Unworldly(no resurrections) mode. I started in normal mode, got 2 characters killed in the 15-20lvl bracket and then switched to EverLasting mode(unlimited resurrections) for next two chars. Leveling those EL characters to 25-29lvl gave me a nice overview of how the game and dungeons work after which I switched back to normal mode. Do not get too attached to your character on Normal/Unworldly modes, you will most likely die atleast few times during exploring the unknown world.


First things to do when you arrive in Bree and what to do during your upcoming adventures.


1) Wear your starting gear, make sure you have atleast 2-3 BpR if you're meleeish class. This usually means getting rid of your starting weapon(s) and buying as light weapon(s) as possible (usually means <5lbs, depends on your STR and DEX) from shop 3. Examine items in shops with x key to see how many BpR you will get with the weapons.

2) Buy a lantern, few cure light/serious wounds potions, few phase door scrolls and head to Training Tower(first dungeon, where you can't die for real) located southeast from Bree centre. Get used to the combat while clearing two floors of the tower which usually gets you to 3-5 lvl.

3) Sell/wear the loot you got from tower, buy basic armor pieces to every slot(keep the class weight limitations in mind), ranged weapon, some more phase door scrolls, cure serious wounds potions, few identify scrolls, low level spell scrolls and a shovel or pick. The gear you find in TT isn't that great and usually you end up spending more money identifying the basic armor/weapons than what you get for selling them. I often end up selling the pseudo-id'd {average} scrolls&potions straight to shop which then identifies the item type in question for next time you happen to see them in dungeons etc. Jewelry, wands and staves are great source of money in beginning.

4) Once you're done with shopping, you have the choice(not limited to these options tho) to either go to Barrow Downs(starts at 1lvl) or Orc Cave(starts at lvl10). The latter option is a bit risky at this low level and I personally go visit BD first and get myself to 6-10lvl(depends on class and gear you've gotten so far, ranged classes have it easier in general) before heading to OC.

5) After a hopefully successful trip to the dungeon, do the same as in section 3, just get more potent potions, better gear, jewelry, possibly a teleport staff(costs 1.5-3k, can be used while confused and blinded, change this to scrolls of teleportation later on when you have blind&confusion resists). In general switch to cure critical wounds potions when you have close to 100hp, healing potions when you have 300-400hp etc.

6) Keep going deeper into the dungeon, rince and repeat selling loot while acquiring better gear. Make sure the depth indicator on bottom right corner of the screen stays white in colour so you get full exp, if this turns to yellow you'll get reduced amount of exp. Once you have 1000+ spare gold you should start buying enchant scrolls and enchant all your weapons and armour (even the basic vendor crap if you haven't found better items) to have close to +9 enchant on hit/dmg/AC giving you a huge boost to damage and survivability. You can enchant gear up to +9 somewhat easily after which normal enchant scrolls doesn't seem to work anymore and you need *Enchant xxx* scrolls which can bring them up to +15ish. Look for enchant weapon&armour scrolls on sale at shop 5.

7) You should be around 10-20lvl after several trips to dungeon and now it's time to start focusing on your base resists (fire,cold,elec,acid) and ultimately try to get as many resists/immunities as possible(you can check all your resists by pressing C h h). Free Action(paralysis immunity) is really important after 20lvl, getting paralyzed in middle of combat will most likely get you killed. Resists were one thing I overlooked in the beginning and that ended up killing me few times within 1-2secs after seeing certain higher level monsters(never ever stay on "You feel terrified..." levels unless you're absolutely sure you know what you're doing, this has gotten me killed the most so far).

8) Once you're done with OC, you should be around 20-30 level and you have the option to move to Mordor(starts at 35lvl) or go visit the less frequently visited dungeons: The Old Forest(starts at 13lvl), The Sandworm Lair(starts at 22lvl), Mirkwood(starts at 11lvl, no boss here), The Maze(starts at 25lvl), The Small Water Cave(starts at 32lvl). List of dungeons can be seen here http://www.tomenet.eu/guide.php?chapter=4.5c

This is where my knowledge of the dungeons ends, for now atleast. To be continued...



Various tips & tricks - Might contain slight spoilers

Mobility(phase door,teleport,speed/sprint,movement on forest/mountain tiles) and ESP(ways to see various types of monsters from afar e.g. Detect Monsters spell/telepathy from items or race etc) are the most important tools for survival. When you can see enemies from distance without them seeing you, you can inspect them from monster lore ~ 7 and check what you're up against and prepare accordingly. Mobility plays huge part in staying alive after something nasty has jumped you and you need to get to safety asap, teleport seems to be the ultimate escape tool but it can also land you next to a nasty pack of monsters if you haven't explored the level thoroughly.

Potions of Resistance and Speed are really important against tougher monsters and later on in the game when you can afford buying them. You should always carry some of these on you. Having "passive resist" lowers the damage you take to 1/3 of the original damage, quaffing Potion of Resistance on top of passive resistance brings this even further down to only 1/9 of the original damage taken!

Most of the NE(non-everlasting) player shops are located near Bree, look for houses with painted doorways. Check these regularly for gear upgrades if you haven't gotten lucky in dungeons. Most of the EL(everlasting) player shops are located around Gondolin.

Remember to macro(press % ingame) all your crucial items/abilities/spells to as easily accessible keybinds as possible, your survival in tight situations depends on hitting these keys reliably and quickly.

Pay attention to the level feelings(the yellow text when entering a new level). Worst messages are "You feel an imminent danger!" and "What a terrifying place..", I personally leave the level pretty much instantly with these messages. More details about the feelings can be found here: http://www.tomenet.eu/guide.php?chapter=4.8

As mentioned above, resists are be something you should prioritize and even more so when you're going against dungeon bosses. Here's a list of those dungeons mentioned earlier and what resist you should atleast have before going against the boss, all this info can be found in game by pressing ~ 7 and looking up the boss in question:

Barrow-Downs, Wight-King - Nether resist against Nether Breath

Old Forest, Old Man Willow - Free Action against paralysing attacks

Sandworm Lair, Sandworm Queen - Poison resist against Poison Breath

Mordor, no boss - recommended to have base, nexus, nether, chaos resists before going in.



That's all for now, I'll keep updating the guide as I progress and find out more neat tricks. Thanks to everyone who has helped me in game with many of the topics mentioned above.

Suggestions about the layout, content and whatnot are more than welcome to make this document as easy and compact guideline to newbies as possible.

P.S. Could add Tangar's newbie guide with the maps etc here and also the_sandman's great guide for post-OC. Let me know guys if it's okay to link those here and if there are some other hidden gems lurking in the forums.


Happy hunting,

Porkzar
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tangar
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Re: Hitchhiker's guide to the Middle Earth (newbie guide)

Post by tangar »

Great guide! :) Nothing to add except may be class advice - its very good choice to create "melee only" first character - warrior or rogue - until you understand game basics. Druid & etc its quite complex classes for new players imho.
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PowerWyrm
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Re: Hitchhiker's guide to the Middle Earth (newbie guide)

Post by PowerWyrm »

tangar wrote:Great guide! :) Nothing to add except may be class advice - its very good choice to create "melee only" first character - warrior or rogue - until you understand game basics. Druid & etc its quite complex classes for new players imho.
I disagree with starting a melee character as your first character. Melee chracters are strong and straightforward, but you will die a lot by early ranged opponents like kobold/orc shamans/archers/druids. If you want to kill those pests, you will have to equip a good shooter, which means obliterating your armor class and ruin your melee skills. A druid is really the easiest class at start: martial arts is a no-brainer, and the only thing it takes to have a powerful ranged attack is to macro Toxic Moisture and cast it on anything you cannot melee.
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tangar
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Re: Hitchhiker's guide to the Middle Earth (newbie guide)

Post by tangar »

Casting is quite hard thing for a new player. You have to manage not only life, but also mana. So for first ever character is better melee only imho :) After a few hours - yes - druid could be fun.
Tangar's tileset, addon, guides & maps: English TomeNET page ||||||| Russian TomeNet page
http://youtube.com/GameGlaz — streams in English // http://youtube.com/StreamGuild — streams in Russian
My chars @ angband.oook.cz
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tokariew
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Re: Hitchhiker's guide to the Middle Earth (newbie guide)

Post by tokariew »

using macro wizard, i will say that casting is pretty easy :)
You nearly don't bother about mana. You cast toxic moisture at group of enemy, or some pretty hard. After TT you always have enough mana to at least to cast it twice in row.
Only hard part about druid is to buy toxic moisture :D
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Solanidae
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Re: Hitchhiker's guide to the Middle Earth (newbie guide)

Post by Solanidae »

I would definitely recommend a druid as somebody's first character. They're both extremely powerful and extremely versatile. My first 4-5 characters above level 20 were all druids. :roll:
Raxxster
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Re: Hitchhiker's guide to the Middle Earth (newbie guide)

Post by Raxxster »

Shaman. It can do everything. However, for spellcasting purposes, hardly anything beats a properly skilled Istar. A big plus on istari is that you have fireflash + essence of speed spells fairly early on, so you have high speed and can destroy everything before they get to you. However, as shaman you can use some forms for multipurpose things, after you kill enough monsters. Shamans tend to have pretty low mana capacity, but skilling traumaturgy can help you past toughest points. That way you regenerate mana when you hurt anything you see...and you can hurt stuff by melee or spells...to get more mana to hurt them even more! :twisted:
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