Tut Tut it Looks Like ... Snow?

Your character is looking great and you're ready to go, but what do you do now? Taking those first steps into Korthos can be quite daunting. Who is that guy standing on the shore and why am I in these pathetic rags?

The first character you create on a server will need to run through the tutorial. After that, you can choose whether or not to run it. The tutorial is no big deal as you can't die in it and is a very good learning tool for folks who are new to the game. However, a character who runs the tutorial can only play with others who've run the tutorial until they've completed the quest Misery's Peak. And, it takes a bit of questing to be able to run through Misery's.

The Devs (the folks who make/run the game) say we're meant to solo it the first time. I say "eeek!" I had a hard enough time getting through three quests without pulling out all of my hair (and I have a lot of hair) much less six quests, including Misery's. And that was with my (not so patient) boyfriend trying to help me over party chat.

Oh...some basic things about Korthos

• Between the tutorial and the time you first leave Korthos after finishing Misery's Peak, the town is snowy. After that and if you skip the tutorial, it's sunny.
• You need to complete the three town and the tavern quest before going to the island.
• The three town quests need to be completed before the tavern quest, but can be done in any order.
• It tends to be very difficult for experienced casters and rogues to complete these quests alone...at least on normal.

Before getting too far into things, you'll want to set up some UI (user interface) things and familiarize yourself with your screen a bit:

• Enable Voice Chat: Even if you don't plan to talk, you will need to have voice chat enabled to hear those who do talk. To do this, click on the box with the two checkmarks (it's in the upper left part of your screen), click Audio (right side of the pop-up window), scroll down and click the box to the right of Enable Voice Chat.
• The Map: it's the circle in the upper left that says "Shipwreck Shore" at the top. This can be expanded by clicking on the magnifying glass in the upper right of the circle. I strongly suggest taking a good look at the map and using it frequently.
• Focus Orb: This is the circle at the lower right corner of your screen. It's very handy and I'll probably devote an entire post to it sometime. I tend to run with it minimized (do this by clicking the eyeball at the bottem left of the orb. You'll probably want to drag it (hold your cursor over it and click and drag when you get the 4 pointed arrow) to the location it's in when open. The focus orb is a great sorce of information on equipment, monsters, other players, etc. You can view detailed info by hitting the z key. I recently discovered that this works in collapsed mode!
• Quest Information Box: The box in the upper right gives info regarding the quest or adventure area you are currently in. Basically, it tells you what your objectives are. I like to drag it closer to the right side of the screen. I also prefer to have it tansparent (click the eyeball to do this) while questing.
• Toolbar: The toolbar is one of your best friends. Or should I say toolbars...there are actually 20 of them! I'll tell you how to make use of multiple toolbars another time. For now, what you really need to know is that the one showing on your screen is connected to your number keys. If you hit the 1 key, it will activate the first icon on the bar, 2 activates the second, etc.
• Chat Window: In the lower left corner, you'll see the chat window. We'll work on customizing this in another post, but for now, notice that it has multiple tabs. Once you get into a party, you'll want to switch to the Party tab. If you join a guild, you'll chat with guildies via the Guild tab.
  
• Health Bar: This is the box with the red line (red and blue for casters, red and yellow for monks) right above the chat window. It tells you how close you are to dying.
  

Since I haven't run the tutorial in awhile (I choose to skip it now) and I happen to have a free slot, I decided to create a toon and run the tutorial and see what the population is like in snowy Korthos these days. Here are some tips for running the tutorial:

• Watch the hints on the right side of your screen (you can disable them once you're familiar with how things work).
• Follow the guy up the path and break any boxes you see and pick up the stuff that drops. You can either double click on the item or hit backspace + u.
• Talk to Jeets again and he'll give you a weapon. You'll probably want to take the one he offers you. You won't want to keep one with a yellow highlight as a yellow highlight means you're not proficient. Though there are times when you might want to use a weapon you're not proficient with, this is not one of them. You can click on the picture of the backpack to open your inventory.
• Talk to Jeets again to get your instructions...after all, you did agree to do something for him in exchange for that weapon.
• Once you get your weapon, click and drag it to your toolbar. Single left click on the icon on the bar to pick up your weapon. Note: I like to put mine in the first slot. The default for that is power attack, which isn't something I use much and you really don't need it on your toolbar as clicking the circle on the left side of your heal bar gets it working.
  
• To swing your weapon, click your right mouse button. You can hold the mouse button down for continuous swinging.
  
• Talbron has some information you might find interesting, but it's not necessary to talk with him.
• Make you're way up the hill to the cave, breaking boxes, crates, barrels and vases along the way.
• Follow the instructions via the NPCs and hints.
• At the end of the quest, you will be given a choice of weapons. Remember to not take one with a yellow bar at the bottom of the icon/square.
• When you get to the village, Randall's a good guy to chat with. He might be able to help you find your way. If not, I'll have another post on exploring Korthos here soon.

The population in snowy Korthos looks pretty slim this morning. I only see one other person here. You have two choices at this point. You can play your toon alone or with whoever you find in town or you can roll a new toon and skip the tutorial with that one (if you feel comfortable with that).

The other players in snowy Korthos will probably be new like yourself. This means they'll probably be more understanding of your frustrations and lack of skill and knowledge and less prone to zerging. However, they will also not be as knowledgeable as those in sunny Korthos.

My suggestion for you at this point, is to start out by talking to the various NPCs in town and see what they have to teach you.

(Thanks to Bragi for the inspiration for the title to this post!)