Super Brand New Player seeking sage-like wisdom!

[Llegien20]

Hello everyone! Merry Christmas!

I'm looking to start playing L2, not seeking to level up to be competitive, just enjoy leveling and engaging in some end-game activities. I've been lurking on these forums for a while and have seen a lot of complaints that surround the massive P2W and necessity to spend money to have fun. First, is this true? I've seen posts of people spending $1000.

Second, there are a TON of classes in this game! I'm more than likely going to need to solo, so which classes are good soloers? I tend towards melee and love sword/shield and duals. I don't need to be a top damage dealing class...but that being said I prefer an "offensive tank" role if going sword and board.

Although I prefer melee I'm not closed off from ranged/casters. Just looking for a good class to level with that can hold their own, solo well, and eventually contribute to group content down the line. Thank you for any and all help!

[Pokemon]

6 hours ago, Llegien20 said:

Hello everyone! Merry Christmas!

I'm looking to start playing L2, not seeking to level up to be competitive, just enjoy leveling and engaging in some end-game activities. I've been lurking on these forums for a while and have seen a lot of complaints that surround the massive P2W and necessity to spend money to have fun. First, is this true? I've seen posts of people spending $1000.

Second, there are a TON of classes in this game! I'm more than likely going to need to solo, so which classes are good soloers? I tend towards melee and love sword/shield and duals. I don't need to be a top damage dealing class...but that being said I prefer an "offensive tank" role if going sword and board.

Although I prefer melee I'm not closed off from ranged/casters. Just looking for a good class to level with that can hold their own, solo well, and eventually contribute to group content down the line. Thank you for any and all help!

Hi my friend. Welcome back to game. 

You can easily reach lvl 99. Instances like Kartia/Crystal Caverns (Armed Version is hard)/Baylor/Balok are easy and you don't need to have very good gear to do them (r95 armor + r95 weapon are fine). At Nightmare Kamaloka if you don't be lvl 100 will be hard to find party.

After lvl 99 if you want to do instances like Atelia Fortress/Altar of Shilen that they gives good xp you must have the appropriate gear. That gear costs billions adena so needs time and patience. For example If you have dd you must have at least +12/+13 r99 weapon. With a tank you save a lot of adena from making a weapon. With apocalypse weapon you will be fine for a long time. For example tank can do that instances with a gear that costs about 10-15 billion adena (With that gear you are in the limit). The tyr needs only for his weapon 15-20 billion adena.

So for instances after lvl 99 you choose to waiting until some day have the appropriate gear or to give real money. 

Your choice is yours.

....If you love the game just simple play and never do the mistake try to compare you gear with the gear of the top players of the server because you will be disappointed and leave the game. Most players leave for that reason....

[Yidao]

Llegien, the game is free to log in, so simply try it out. What you should know is that while this game does not require equipment repairs, it has consumables, so-called "Soulshots", as money sink to avoid inflation. Due to a number of design decisions over the years, you will run out of those Soulshots at about lvl 50 or so, with no money to buy new ones. Simply put, you must kill several monsters to buy one Shot, but you need several Shots to kill one monster.

What you can do is learn from the bots and make a Spectral Master Summoner (Dark Elf  Mystic -> Dark Wizard -> Phantom Summoner ...). That class can get by without Shots, at least in the beginning. As soon as you have reached lvl 80 you can do the Mithril Mines run from Daichir in Schuttgart, which will provide you with 1.1 million adena per day, enough to buy Shots if you just play as long as you have Vitality, i.e. maybe an hour per week. Once your Summoner has reached lvl 85, choose as your Subclass a Tank or whatever. But first study these threads:
https://forums.lineage2.com/forum/17-knight/

You can of course spend several thousand dollars per month on this game. Just look at the promotions here:
http://www.lineage2.com/en/news/
But as little as 100 dollars per month should easily be enough if you just want to do instances and maybe a little field PvE in the less contested hunting grounds. You don't have to sell your kidneys to play Lineage 2; as long as you don't intend to engage in PvP, giving up smoking will be enough

[Pokemon]

1 hour ago, Yidao said:

But first study these threads:
https://forums.lineage2.com/forum/17-knight/

Tanks are better now after update.

1 hour ago, Yidao said:

But as little as 100 dollars per month should easily be enough if you just want to do instances.

100 dollars per month is a huge amount of real money. Is not necessary to spend so much money to do instances. I play 3 years and i have spend totally 75 euros at ncoins.

[Llegien20]

It sounds like spending real money is almost a requirement, except for TenebrisFilia's post. I don't need to be competitive at endgame. Further, $100 per month is not going to happen from me...$100 per year, maybe, if I love the game.

It sounds like Tanks aren't noob or solo friendly after a certain point. I don't mind making a summoner. But, excuse my ignorance, does choosing a tank subclass at 85 make me a caster than wears heavy armor and sword and board? I don't know how the subclass system works and will need to read up on it a bit!

Also, I do need to read more on weapons, what type of enhancement, and the best way to go about earning adena/gear/enhancements. I just stared playing the mobile version of this game and it got me thinking I should play the original!

Thank you all for the information and links to helpful threads!

[Yidao]

The Subclass System is a bit complicated. When you have reached lvl 85 and Awakened, you can, after doing an easy quest, pick a Subclass, which will turn your character in its old appearance (in my example a Dark Elf) to a lvl 40 character with the stats of the Subclass race. If you want to be an offensive tank, that would be Dark Avenger. Simply put, on the outside you are a Dark Elf, on the inside you are Human. As a Summoner you will be wearing the Leather Armor provided by the starter quest line (you could also wear Robes, but for that you have to pay yourself, which you as a new player can't). After you have picked Dark Avenger, the NPC who does the Subclass stuff will give you a free Heavy Armor set with shield and sword.

After you have Awakened your Subclass, you will get the racial stats of your original Dark Elf. Since Dark Elves have high Strength, that's good for offensive tanks. Since they also have little blood, that's bad for defensive tanks. The Dark Avenger -> Hell Knight has been seriously nerfed in the Salvation update. You can still do nice damage on weak monsters by using a Two-Hand [Sword] Stance, but for that you have to abandon your shield, i.e. you lose about half of your attack skills (which are often tied to shield usage, like Shield Stun), and of course a lot of your defense. I have a Hell Knight Dual Class (an Awakened Subclass) myself, and with my exclusively offensive playstyle (I am a pure solo player) I am now taking considerably more damage, sometimes even dying in hunting grounds I could easily manage before the update.

100 dollars per month has nothing to do with competitiveness. It's just that you won't be invited to the parties which do the instances TenebrisFilia listed if you don't have at least a silvery armor (as a Tank you can get away with a simple weapon). And that will cost you. You give the impression of being an honest man, so what you will have to do is buy items from the L2Store for real money, sell that in-game and use the adena you get in this way to buy equipment. Doing anything random-based like overenchanting yourself is stricly NOT RECOMMENDED for new players.

By the way, I myself have spent exactly zero dollars since the game went "free to play". But my characters, created in 2007, are now in their mid 90s. It all depends on what you want

[Znipo]

You dont have to spend a dime if you want to play this game.

If you want to enjoy every single instance and such, yes you will have to spend time farming appropriate equipment for it. or just buy it.

Same as in every single MMO, name one which you can do "end game instances" in plain equipment?

 

This probably means little to you, but

Plain R95 armor set with 120 element will set you back around 700m adena.

Decent jewelry will cost you around 2 billion adena.
If  you were to purchase it with adena, its around 10 USD/billion, so 27 USD for this.

* During some events, you can get around 7USD/billion, so depends on when you invest your money.

You can also get by with a 7+ apoc weapon for most classes, say around 2-3b adena. < 20-30 USD~

"Small investment" and you can participate in pretty much all instances, and before someone tries to argue about it - difference between 4+ R95 and a 8+ R99 set is like 15-20% less damage taken, it will not make you break you.

And just to put it out there, even if you were in the absolute worst armor imagineable I would take you to all instances regardless of what you wear, and many people are like me. dont read the forum & get a bad idea about the playerbase etc.

 

 

Now depending on your class, there is alot of different weapons though.

Iss, tank and healer can get by with 200m weapon. < less than 2USD

A dagger/yul can use a 4-6b weapon (depends on server) > kelbim weapon. < around 50 USD, which will be good for pretty much every instance out there.

Tyrr can use shadow weapon, ~10b investment < around 100 USD, also good for every instance out there.

 

 

 

 

 

[Tool_of_Society]

On 12/24/2017 at 5:16 PM, Znipo said:

You dont have to spend a dime if you want to play this game.

If you want to enjoy every single instance and such, yes you will have to spend time farming appropriate equipment for it. or just buy it.

Same as in every single MMO, name one which you can do "end game instances" in plain equipment?

 

This probably means little to you, but

Plain R95 armor set with 120 element will set you back around 700m adena.

Decent jewelry will cost you around 2 billion adena.
If  you were to purchase it with adena, its around 10 USD/billion, so 27 USD for this.

* During some events, you can get around 7USD/billion, so depends on when you invest your money.

You can also get by with a 7+ apoc weapon for most classes, say around 2-3b adena. < 20-30 USD~

"Small investment" and you can participate in pretty much all instances, and before someone tries to argue about it - difference between 4+ R95 and a 8+ R99 set is like 15-20% less damage taken, it will not make you break you.

And just to put it out there, even if you were in the absolute worst armor imagineable I would take you to all instances regardless of what you wear, and many people are like me. dont read the forum & get a bad idea about the playerbase etc.

 

 

Now depending on your class, there is alot of different weapons though.

Iss, tank and healer can get by with 200m weapon. < less than 2USD

A dagger/yul can use a 4-6b weapon (depends on server) > kelbim weapon. < around 50 USD, which will be good for pretty much every instance out there.

Tyrr can use shadow weapon, ~10b investment < around 100 USD, also good for every instance out there.

 

 

 

 

 

Plain r95 will get you into a k95 at best. You won't have a chance to get into a cc or k99 without at least +6 armor and a +8 weapon. I have never successfully talked a group into taking a character with regular r95. Hell my healer has been kicked because it only had +6 r95. For a good chance of getting in you'll need at least +8. At that point though it's actually cheaper to just buy r99 gear as a full +6 r99 set (without bloody/dark) is going for 3-5b on chaos with full 120 resists. As stated earlier people are so obsessed with their sub 5 minute balok that you really don't have much of a chance to get in as a dps.

What "decent jewelry" are you buying for only 2b? One ring will cost half that so I'm genuinely curious.

A +7 apoc weapon will most likely get you laughed at and kicked if you try to join a party in LFG. Granted a tank can make that work with the proper dual SA but good luck with that as they'll demand you have at least +8 armor.

20% less damage is huge. In the +99 instances it WILL mean the difference between dying or surviving long enough for the heal.

Kelbim does run about 6 billion and up on choas and is decent.

The tyrr will need at least two weapons (one for single target and one for aoe).


 

Quote

Same as in every single MMO, name one which you can do "end game instances" in plain equipment?

Basically every non-P2W MMORPG in existence? Seriously there are hundreds of examples of MMORPGS out there that have proper end game setups which allow people to advance from that "plain equipment" up to the uber stuff through time and effort. If that was possible in Lineage 2 then I'd be super happy. Hell I'd still be happy if you were able to progress from plain gear to gear that is useful for the end game instances via in game effort. For example if kartia actually prepared you with drops for k99 CC AF and stuff..

 

[Znipo]

On 30/01/2018 at 4:47 AM, Tool_of_Society said:

Plain r95 will get you into a k95 at best. You won't have a chance to get into a cc or k99 without at least +6 armor and a +8 weapon. I have never successfully talked a group into taking a character with regular r95. Hell my healer has been kicked because it only had +6 r95. For a good chance of getting in you'll need at least +8. At that point though it's actually cheaper to just buy r99 gear as a full +6 r99 set (without bloody/dark) is going for 3-5b on chaos with full 120 resists. As stated earlier people are so obsessed with their sub 5 minute balok that you really don't have much of a chance to get in as a dps.

What "decent jewelry" are you buying for only 2b? One ring will cost half that so I'm genuinely curious.

A +7 apoc weapon will most likely get you laughed at and kicked if you try to join a party in LFG. Granted a tank can make that work with the proper dual SA but good luck with that as they'll demand you have at least +8 armor.

20% less damage is huge. In the +99 instances it WILL mean the difference between dying or surviving long enough for the heal.

Kelbim does run about 6 billion and up on choas and is decent.

The tyrr will need at least two weapons (one for single target and one for aoe).


 

Basically every non-P2W MMORPG in existence? Seriously there are hundreds of examples of MMORPGS out there that have proper end game setups which allow people to advance from that "plain equipment" up to the uber stuff through time and effort. If that was possible in Lineage 2 then I'd be super happy. Hell I'd still be happy if you were able to progress from plain gear to gear that is useful for the end game instances via in game effort. For example if kartia actually prepared you with drops for k99 CC AF and stuff..

 

Make your own group. Dont blame players for not taking you and blame it on the game. 

7+ apoc is more than enough in a decent group setup. 6+ attributed r95 will keep you alive. 

Decent jewelry = any rings for 15% crit dmg, necklace for cooldown. earrings irrelevant for PVE. 

 

What open word pvp mmo like L2 offer every endgame instance with the most plain gear? 

 

Thoughts? 

[Tool_of_Society]

17 hours ago, Znipo said:

Make your own group. Dont blame players for not taking you and blame it on the game. 

7+ apoc is more than enough in a decent group setup. 6+ attributed r95 will keep you alive. 

Decent jewelry = any rings for 15% crit dmg, necklace for cooldown. earrings irrelevant for PVE. 

 

What open word pvp mmo like L2 offer every endgame instance with the most plain gear? 

 

Thoughts? 

Well we now know for sure that you don't actually read the posts that you quote. You responded to me in a different thread where I specifically said I box CC/Baylor/k99/AF. Meaning I run the full 7 man group on my own. My secondary group has nothing but paulina S and it just cleared kartia 95. Granted it took a while fortunately you can go AFK for the first half of the instance and just everyone including the healer run on repeated macros.

Anyway to address your post.  Now you're moving the goal posts. Not everyone has all the time in the world to wait in LFG to find enough people willing to take you. I've had people leave the group after showing up and seeing the aforementioned healer not being shiny enough. If you're having trouble joining other groups making your own group isn't going to suddenly make those same people want to go with you. I have had people leave the group and then form into another group just to avoid taking my "terribly geared" healer that was rocking +6 r95.

+7 apoc is FAR from "more then enough" for k99 AF CC or anything beyond k95 which is frankly a joke of an instance to do. I've already said +6 r95 is gear is "decent enough" depending on the instance but people generally don't consider it good enough when you go looking for groups. Now if you're a tank then a +7 apoc with dual HP SA is "good enough" to get you up to AF stuff.

You are totally dodging the jewelry question. I don't blame you as your 2b for everything claim was absolutely ridiculous. Like I said earlier just one crit damage ring is running +800m on chronus chaos wtf the main server is I'm on now. Sorry I've had so many server merges over the last 15 years that I've lost track of the names.

There are litterly hundreds of MMOs out there that allow open world PVP like Lineage 2 while having a reasonable end game setup that allows you to progress through in game activities all the way up to the very end end game boss. World of warcraft has been doing it almost as long as L2 has existed. Even Aion allows you to progress to end game PVE with purely in game activities. You're trying to excuse a system designed to force people into spending silly amounts of money just to do end game PVE. It's stupid and there are much better ways to milk the money machine without gimping everyone else in the process.

My thoughts is that you dropped thousands on your character and you're worried that NCsoft might actually make it possible to get into end game PVE without spending real $$ like you did.

 

[Znipo]

49 minutes ago, Tool_of_Society said:

Well we now know for sure that you don't actually read the posts that you quote. You responded to me in a different thread where I specifically said I box CC/Baylor/k99/AF. Meaning I run the full 7 man group on my own. My secondary group has nothing but paulina S and it just cleared kartia 95. Granted it took a while fortunately you can go AFK for the first half of the instance and just everyone including the healer run on repeated macros.

Anyway to address your post.  Now you're moving the goal posts. Not everyone has all the time in the world to wait in LFG to find enough people willing to take you. I've had people leave the group after showing up and seeing the aforementioned healer not being shiny enough. If you're having trouble joining other groups making your own group isn't going to suddenly make those same people want to go with you. I have had people leave the group and then form into another group just to avoid taking my "terribly geared" healer that was rocking +6 r95.

+7 apoc is FAR from "more then enough" for k99 AF CC or anything beyond k95 which is frankly a joke of an instance to do. I've already said +6 r95 is gear is "decent enough" depending on the instance but people generally don't consider it good enough when you go looking for groups. Now if you're a tank then a +7 apoc with dual HP SA is "good enough" to get you up to AF stuff.

You are totally dodging the jewelry question. I don't blame you as your 2b for everything claim was absolutely ridiculous. Like I said earlier just one crit damage ring is running +800m on chronus chaos wtf the main server is I'm on now. Sorry I've had so many server merges over the last 15 years that I've lost track of the names.

There are litterly hundreds of MMOs out there that allow open world PVP like Lineage 2 while having a reasonable end game setup that allows you to progress through in game activities all the way up to the very end end game boss. World of warcraft has been doing it almost as long as L2 has existed. Even Aion allows you to progress to end game PVE with purely in game activities. You're trying to excuse a system designed to force people into spending silly amounts of money just to do end game PVE. It's stupid and there are much better ways to milk the money machine without gimping everyone else in the process.

My thoughts is that you dropped thousands on your character and you're worried that NCsoft might actually make it possible to get into end game PVE without spending real $$ like you did.

 

I did not mean you in general - I meant you = people that dont get invited to groups, what stops you from making your own one?

I simply said, the gear I said above is more than enough to do pretty much every instance aslong as your party is in a decent setup and can play the game.
And im not wrong, you may have to stay back & do things more careful, but you're still going to succeed - albeit with time about to run out possibly.

All I hear from you is excuses - now people dont have time to wait for a group to fill up - so NCWest should make it easier cause people are in a rush? is that a joke?

You (not you in general) cant ask NCWest/NCSoft to change the game, based on the fact you have little time to form a group or finish the instance in time, nor can you ask them to do that cause of OTHER PEOPLE not accepting you.

 

Never did I say you can join any group with above gear, I said you can complete instances. 

 

 2 billion is enough for jewelry if your goal is to *PVE*, im not dodging anything.

Ring of creation + AQ soul and tezza soul will land you around the 2b mark. Are you saying you need rulers ring of authority + ring of authority + blessed valakas to efficiently kill mobs in AF instance? or Altar?

or do you need blessed antharas + lindvior earring combo as earrings? what am i doging?

 

The amount of money i've dropped on my character is irrelevant for this conversation. 

 

 

[faellie]

10 hours ago, Tool_of_Society said:

There are litterly hundreds of MMOs out there that allow open world PVP like Lineage 2 while having a reasonable end game setup that allows you to progress through in game activities all the way up to the very end end game boss. World of warcraft has been doing it almost as long as L2 has existed. Even Aion allows you to progress to end game PVE with purely in game activities. You're trying to excuse a system designed to force people into spending silly amounts of money just to do end game PVE. It's stupid and there are much better ways to milk the money machine without gimping everyone else in the process.

Then, why don't you go ahead enjoy these " hundreds of MMOs out there" instead of wasting your time here? 

I found its really funny.

[Tool_of_Society]

On 1/31/2018 at 10:21 PM, Znipo said:

 

Quote

I did not mean you in general - I meant you = people that dont get invited to groups, what stops you from making your own one?

I already covered that and you straight up ignored it.

Quote

I simply said, the gear I said above is more than enough to do pretty much every instance aslong as your party is in a decent setup and can play the game.
And im not wrong, you may have to stay back & do things more careful, but you're still going to succeed - albeit with time about to run out possibly.

Yeah and I simply responded with the reality that you're wrong. You cannot do much beyond level 99 instances. Baylor with that gear is downright painful. I would love to see you try to do AF with a group using +7 apoc weapons and r95 gear +6.

Quote

You (not you in general) cant ask NCWest/NCSoft to change the game, based on the fact you have little time to form a group or finish the instance in time, nor can you ask them to do that cause of OTHER PEOPLE not accepting you.

Yes I can as I am a 15 year paying customer. I invested in the game before you even heard of it. Once again you're acknowledging that you did not actually read my post. You're clearly more interested in attacking a strawman of your own making rather then responding to my actual comments.

Quote

Never did I say you can join any group with above gear, I said you can complete instances.  

Yes you can complete kartia 95 which gives you nothing for gear just like all the kartias before it.

Quote

 

2 billion is enough for jewelry if your goal is to *PVE*, im not dodging anything.

Ring of creation + AQ soul and tezza soul will land you around the 2b mark. Are you saying you need rulers ring of authority + ring of authority + blessed valakas to efficiently kill mobs in AF instance? or Altar?

or do you need blessed antharas + lindvior earring combo as earrings? what am i doging?

 

The cheapest I've seen that combo on chronus chaos whatever the main server is named now was 2.7 billion. Like I said earlier you're wrong again or would you like screenshots?

I do commend you on the excellent suggestions though. If you were willing to fill out suggestions for all gear slots then I am sure that would be helpful for some people. Maybe we could turn this into something positive for those looking for information on gearing their character on a small budget.

 

Quote

The amount of money i've dropped on my character is irrelevant for this conversation.  

It's entirely relevant as credit card warrioring will completely distort your perception of the game. If you've never actually had to play the game with gear you found or crafted from drops then you would never understand why the terrible drop rate is bad. You would be more interested in protecting your investment in gear and the power gap it creates because it cost you real $$$.

 

 

 

 

On 2/1/2018 at 8:04 AM, faellie said:

Then, why don't you go ahead enjoy these " hundreds of MMOs out there" instead of wasting your time here? 

I found its really funny.

Why do you feel the need to carry water for a company that craps on you constantly? My answer to your question is because I want to. I started in closed beta I have a decade and a half with this game and I want it to last another decade and half. The current path is leading directly into the ground and is unhealthy for the game. I already refuse to buy or play any other ncsoft game so there's not much else I could do on that front.

I don't understand why you think people can only play one game at a time. While my characters are macroing away in L2 to achieve some in game goal I'm busy playing other games that actually reward active playing.
 

[Znipo]

Prices obviously go up and down, try shouting and you'll find it cheaper. 

Replace ring of creation with octavis ring after event is over as price of RoC will rise. 

 

A +7 apoc dagger will do like 25% less damage than a +7 bloody dagger. 

Are you saying you need a +++ bloody wep to finish baylor? 

Attributed R95 will keep you alive, dunno why you are hung up about that. 

As said, good party setup with gear ive mentioned will have damage and survivability to finish "even altar" 

 

As mentioned.. I couldnt care less if my "investment" goes away, i play this for fun and i really dont care about it. The amount ive spent is nowhere near my gear value, infact most of what ive spent doesnt go to improving my char at all. 

 

Ill finish baylor later with bad gear and we will see how it is.

[faellie]

On 2/6/2018 at 9:01 AM, Tool_of_Society said:

 

Why do you feel the need to carry water for a company that craps on you constantly? My answer to your question is because I want to. I started in closed beta I have a decade and a half with this game and I want it to last another decade and half. The current path is leading directly into the ground and is unhealthy for the game. I already refuse to buy or play any other ncsoft game so there's not much else I could do on that front.

I don't understand why you think people can only play one game at a time. While my characters are macroing away in L2 to achieve some in game goal I'm busy playing other games that actually reward active playing.
 

The fact that you played this game for a decade and a half and want it to last another decade and half  means you really like it. It proved that its a great game. And I totally agree on that. I played this game for around 5 years before 2006 and again played for around 3 years now after returned around 2015. I have spent ZERO money on this game after returned and start from scratch. I only play about 1-2 hours each day on weekdays .  But I can tell you honestly that I enjoy it very much.  I also respect other player who invest real money to enjoy the game (just not my style). As long as you are enjoying the game. From your post, its seems its all hate of this game and it seems you think there are 100+ other games that are better than this game but you still can not let go this game.

I mean no offence, I do want more people to play this game and want this game to last long time.  And yes people can complain about the game too but don't be unrealistic.  The goal should be making it better not curse the game.

I just see way too much whining for this game.   

 

[Znipo]

Was hitting baylor for 1 million dmg/stab with BR on.

Equipment = 6+ specter shaper 2SA, 6+ seraph set, no la vie jewelry, no abundance, no 7s etc. just basic gear.

* Monkey belt and tauti ring was equipped aswell.

While my char has some extra attack power due to lv. 103 (AP & some skill power) a lv. 99 would not be far off, maybe 700k damage.

What im triyng to say, even with "horrible gear" such as 7+ apoc dagger, you're still able to smack both baylors down in a minute with pretty low gear, not that painful.

Also, i would say with a proper party setup that damage would suffice for altar/af/kama.