Newcomers in SL - Read here

[Manusra]

This Guide was a reply to someone who was a pretty high level player on Rubi Ka but was confused about what to do in shadowlands. A few people thought it was good so I made it it's own thread so people can see it more clearly and benifit from it. Thanks Engelen for the title =).

Updated 01.19.04 Added my faction guide:
AO Vault has done an excelent job with guides for shadowlands so far. They can be found here:

http://aovault.ign.com/thegame/guides

Hats off to them, this may be your 1 stop AO\SL Guide site =]

Shadowlands is different in style than the Rubi Ka you know and love since it's more of a progression through different playfields in a more linear fashion than when you started in Rubi Ka.

If you think of it, on Rubi Ka you where limited to certain areas when you first started out since you didn’t have the skills to move to other areas. For example you couldn't get out of the backyard until you where level 2 or couldn’t grid to a particular place since you didn't have enough comp lit. Even if you tried to get there by foot you couldn't since the mobs where too strong on your way there.

To progress on RK you had to level. Get enough skill to grid, or get more hp, wear higher QL armor or get a yalm equipped, etc. This is the AO we were accustomed to.

In Shadowlands you can also level, but FC has throw in an abundance of Quests that are required to progress if you are not a certain level (unlike the famous Trashking Quest we all love\hate which is not required) to the next playfield where bigger and better things await you. Recently FC changed the way SL works so if you are a certain level you can get to the next zone without the Ergo quest.

Basically there are 2 types of main quests I have seen for each Dimension of SL I have seen thus far. The first is a "Garden" Quest for your "Faction" I will get into faction later in this thread.

Gardens are special places in the dimensions that have save points with reclaim terms, bank terminals and shop NPCs. Think of them as Mini cities.

There are 2 Gardens per Dimension one for the Redeemed Faction the other for the Unredeemed Faction. To enter a Garden you need to get a Insignias.

Insignias drop randomly off mobs. It's very likley that one will drop off the 1st mob you kill in Shadowlands. 99% of the time when one drops you will get one of the insignia's for one the gardens on the dimension your currently on. I have recieved insignia's for Elysium on Nanscence but its rare.

Once you have the Insignia you go to its corresponding statue (there may be multiple statues of a specific side on each playfield) and use it on the statue. You will be warped to the garden and the insignia will disappear, it’s a use once item.

A specific NPC for each Faction on each dimension will be the starting point for the Quest to get a Permanent Key for that NPCs faction’s garden. So if you are Omni and want the Unredeemed Garden Key for that dimension, the NPC will also be Unredeemed. Once you complete the quest you no longer need to use insignias to enter a garden you use the key you received as reward. Now here’s the kicker, once you have keys to multiple gardens across dimensions you can warp from garden to garden using these keys. You can also use Statues on Rubi-Ka that warp you to gardens depending which perma -key you use. This is essentially the grid system of SL.

Stratics has some guides for the garden quests here:

http://ao.stratics.com/content/guide..._keys.shtml?s=

The second type of Quest is Ergos Quest. Ergo's quests reward you with a ring. This ring warps you from your current dimension to the next. This quest is optional now and if you meet a certain level requirement Ergo just gives you the ring to progress. Once you’re on that dimension and get the garden key, you don't need to use Ergos portals anymore unless you want to.

Herodotus has been hosting a Shadowlands Quest site that is excellent and can be found here:

http://ao.shadow-realm.org/index.php

Now for faction. Faction is Important but I won't explain it. Rather I'll post a link from anarchyarcanum:

http://www.anarchyarcanum.com/gameplay_sl-faction.html

Edit, I did explain it =p. Heres My guide:

http://forums.anarchy-online.com/sho...hreadid=222973


That explains Faction. The only thing I will add is that Ergo and sided NPC's won't even give you the time of day unless you have enough faction points on their side. Also some items can't be equipped unless you have a certain amount of faction points.

Other distractions are the Jobe Suit that can be eventualy upgraded through a few processes to tier 1 tier 2 and eventualy the chosen\faithful armor. Stractics has a guide on obtaining the Basic Jobe Suit here:

http://ao.stratics.com/content/guide..._suit.shtml?s=

SL will also have Land Control enabled soon so you can have towers up there. There are also "Pocket Bosses". There is a process to spawn your own bosses from "Blueprints". This gameplay concept is outlined here:

http://www.anarchyarcanum.com/gamepl...ocketboss.html

These bosses drop some of the best items in game called "symbiants". There are special SL implants that are great!

SL is definitely different from Rubi-Ka.

Also here is a link to the perks & Specializations that where introduced with SL ( I love it I can Finally at LvL 200 + Shadowlands equip my RoPs self buffed with no towers, special items, etc):

Perks:
http://www.anarchyarcanum.com/gameplay_sl-perks.html

Specialization Quests:
http://aovault.ign.com/thegame/guides/deadlock.shtml

And by the way anarchyacanum may be the best MMO site ever especialy for tradeskilling so bookmark if you never been there =]. Vault and Stratics are also great!

I hope this makes you understand the idea of SL a lil better.

Anyone who wants to add some comments so people understand SL (No flames we all know what’s borked in the game) feel free too. And please excuse my spelling and format, I'm not the best guide maker =]

[Engelen]

Very very good, Make this sticky please!

First time I logged into SL I was so confused, I wished for a guide like this. I bet most of the new guys do too, and so this should be sticky so everyone can see this and read here if they are unsure about the "new" stuff.

Great work Manusra, where were you when I needed you?

[Karey]

This is just absolutely fabulous. Thank you so much.

[Sephauri]

Nice read, thanks for the info

[_______________Ozone]

Other distractions are the Jobe Armor and its upgrade processes that Stractics has a guide on here:

http://ao.stratics.com/content/guid...e_suit.shtml?s=


Hi...fyi...this link is probably missing address info...page not found

[Manusra]

Thanks, I fixed the link.

[Naima]

that was a great guide Manusra, thanks a lot!

[Tekkers]

Great guide I'll betnot all knew of the boss in a pocket, it was an addition for me.
This clearly put AO again one big step forward into one of the greatest mmog's ever build, and with all these new things it will be in the far future.
Great work Mans and also let's applause one time for all those crazy idea's the dev's put into this expansion.
Now they have still allot of work to let everything work and balance everything though, but I trust it completly.
I think they have some pot smoking guy's in there computer rooms, how the hell do you invent all these things lol

This is a great qoute I found out one of your links.

The reason for the name of the series can be found in our first focused feature about the Blueprints of life. This cool "anti-camping" boss encounter method can best be described as "boss in your pocket" gameplay. By using a main notum vein, the essence of life, you can create life, based on blueprints you have found. This enables organizations and teams to plan certain boss encounters at their own leisure. In other words, a fresh approach to the camping issues that can plague many online games.

[Kargin]

Great thread, but I dont think those are the proper items to get for Jobe armor anymore.. When I talked with the IPS professional of my type I was instructed to get Yellow Glyph of Enel + Novictum + Pure Liquid Notum Canister + couple other items.. and to make the Yellow glyph you had to get some items from the spirits.. not just use the insignias.

I may be wrong though.. but to my knowledge it doesnt work that way anymore.

[Manusra]

Originally posted by Lagorin
Great thread, but I dont think those are the proper items to get for Jobe armor anymore.. When I talked with the IPS professional of my type I was instructed to get Yellow Glyph of Enel + Novictum + Pure Liquid Notum Canister + couple other items.. and to make the Yellow glyph you had to get some items from the spirits.. not just use the insignias.

I may be wrong though.. but to my knowledge it doesnt work that way anymore.

Sorry I posted the wrong link earlier. I have clarified my wording a little and updated it with the correct link.

The way listed in the guide is how to get the regular Jobe Suit Armor. The process your detailing is to upgrade the armor to Tier 1. So far no one has been to do it since we cant fill canisters with Liquid notum on SL towers since land control hasn't been enabled yet. There is a chance you can find a canister off random mobs but its rare. The other issue is no one has been able to locatate any of the types of Novictum needed.

[tekkdeath]

i used to have tons of novictum you can find it in the jobe newbie area on almost all of them except for the silvertails and sankes and spiders i forgot wut they were called sry.

[Manusra]

Those are the patches that look like bronto hide. We are looking for the Specific kinds the IPS's outline. For example for Advns it's Novictum Mud.

[_____________MadDune]

As usual uber guide manus! (sitting here reading it for hrs)

[_______________Lmnox]

Hats off to you, uber guide! Good work!

[Comis]

Great info

[Friregan]

Shadowlands Quests

[Manusra]

Great Link. =]

[__________Lightsbane]

thanks for the info and the links. very helpful.

[Nepenthe]

Great info!

I'm finally getting my shadowlands today and this thread will make starting much easier =)

Thanks.

[Darkconner]

I've been gone from AO for about 5 months, i get SL expansion and start my account again and when i was in SL i had not a clue what was going on, what gardens are, ect. this thread helped a ton to give me some direction, thanks