messed with it this AM before work for about 15 minutes...

...and here come those questions...

can you use a game controller to play, similar to an xbox controller, but usb for PC??
is KB and mouse the only way to play??

Still feelin' my way through it, I see it is a lot of clicking on stuff (the person you want info on, enemies you want to attack, etc...)
is there a fansite or a tips and tricks site ya'll used to get the commands and interface stuff from...so your not clicking on everything and tryin' every key on the kb to see what it'll do??

I made a character, a high elf Shadow Warrior...seemed to be a safe choice to learn on. From what I've read he can melee or deal damage from mid range, so I don't have to be right in it all the time while I'm learnin'.
...went into the only map they would allow on the free trial. I looked around in PvE mode and killed a few of the sprites...in the book thingy it says to kill 25 of them, is that a mission to move up a level or something?

or is that just the first task on the way to moving up a level?

My character carries a bow, but for the life of me I couldn't figure out how to switch from sword to bow for weapon being used in an attack?(there is a question in there somewhere)

What is this "stance" thing, like a state of readiness??...are there different stances and how is each used and how do you switch between them.



That's all I can think of right now here at work...gimme all the info ya got.
Any help to get me up to speed before I see ya online would be appreciated.

Keyboard and mouse is really your only option. I don't even think the game will look for any gamepad input.

These games do involve a lot of mouse clicks. There are keyboard commands for targeting next or nearest enemy, and opening any menus. I personally don't ever click on my skills, but some people prefer that to hitting the number keys.

Most of the menu commands are pretty intuitive, being the first letter of the menu name.. but some are trickier. M is map, B is bag, C is character sheet. You can change any of those, and the menu for changing them is the best place to see what all the commands are. The best way to get familiar with it is to just jump on comms and fire away with the questions while we play.

I haven't played a shadow Warrior much.. I'm not even really sure what their role is. I think it's a ranged DPS class. It's one of the few classes that none of us are are playing already, so we could surely use one in the group.

Most MMOs use a trinity of class types to be most effective... Tank, Healer and DPS. DPS is the high Damage Per Second classes. They are usually light on armor but capable of laying an enemy down pretty fast as long as they can stay alive. The tanks are the heavy armor guys with skills that draw the enemy's attention (agro) to them. They can usually soak up a lot of damage, but they do relatively less damage themselves. Healers are pretty self explanatory. Like the DPS classes, they usually come in mêlée and ranged. Most games have an option for a templar or paladin class that is a hybrid of tank and healer. Along with tanks, these are usually the easiest classes to play solo.

The tome of knowledge will keep track of just about everything you kill, and give you little rewards at certain milestones... like when you have killed a thousand Dark Elves you will get a trophy to wear on your armor. You don't have to do those things in the book, and they generally just complete themselves through the course of normal questing or RvR. At low level, the fastest way up is to just do every quest that they offer you. You'll get to level 5 or 6 pretty quick, and then it's a good time to try out some Realm vs Realm combat (RvR).

You should switch between bow and sword depending on which skill you use, or what range you are at. I'm not even sure if you have a ranged auto attack, but I would imagine so. It's a little hard to get a feel for your ranged skills playing solo. Usually you'll be in a group and one of the tanks will have agro so you can stand back and fire away.

I'm not sure how your stances work, but they usually offer a bonus to one stat while reducing another. One will make you better at ranged but do less mêlée damage, or it will raise your attacks and lower your defense. You should be able to mouse over them and get a description. They are a toggle skill. So once you fire them they should run until you die or change stances.

KEWL! Thx for the reply!
Playin on and off, here and there since I got home.

Moved up to level 2...Stayed within about 400 ft from the "war camp"(dunno if that's what it is? There are some NPCs, a career trainer, a merchant, some offering quests) and just kept killin' stuff...and lvl 2 was given.

Needed cash for what the merchant had/what the career trainer offered.

SOOO...

...I figured out the quest thing. Accepted one and , well, pretty easy. CASH in the bag to get my first extra skill, a potion for the bag, XP, etc. Moving onto the second offering from the same NPC character, now.


brb

AND the full version of the game just showed up on the doorstep via UPS!!
so I should be able to join ya after getting rid of the trial restrictions.

http://www.wardb.com/ for item information and a forum

http://www.warhammeronline.com/forums/ games own forums

Look into the Curse profiler at Wardb. There are a lot of nice add-ons to use.

my wardb ain't workin for some reason it won't pick up on my elf guy and make him a character in my profile how is that done i want to put up a siggy thing like i have with my chosen dude ,,,see bottom of my post

OK I am thinking about getting this game. Here is my question.

If you play a warrior can you make a DPS class and later respec that Char to Tank?

Or is there the ability to Dual Spec like in WoW and switch between the 2?

I know that in WoW sometimes there is a need for Tanks and sometimes DPS and if you cant switch you cant get into a group because those roles are taken.

My profiler is sporadic as well. Sometimes it works and sometimes it don't. Mine shows 24/23 but I am 26/26

No, a tank is a tank. A DPS is a DPS. You can change how you tank and how you DPS (single or AOE) but that is about it. There are three trees you can change up and mix. As an example, my Slayer is melee DPS. I can mix up how I do damage, AOE and single, or focus on one, single would be more burst damage, AOE more damage.

We do mostly PVP which tends to turn into large groups. There is always a healthy mix of all classes. Last night it was me, Auger, Sal, Rusty, Zax and Parker just rolling around. Towards the end it was a full 24 man party plowing over everything. As you get higher up, their are more 24 man parties attacking and defending keeps.

For Augers first time in an MMO, he did well until he started getting distracted by the shiny stuff

The tank classes can switch between specilization points between tank or dps lines available to them, but they will still lean toward their main role. You have something similar to talent trees with tank classes having the option to put points in to absorption or damage. You can respec those renown points for a cost at any time. You also have the option to use sword and shield or two handed weapon depending on whether you want more DPS or more survivability.

Finding a group isn't really an issue since the groups are open and advertised. Early on it was a little harder to find people, but they have put in a lot of tools to help you find and get to the action since launch. The maps show you where the combat is and roughly how many people are fighting in the area. There are only a few things in the game that limit the party size, and we dont ever really do those. You can do anything in the game with a group of 24, and the big PvP fights are usually at least 50 per side. Without a low limit on the number of players you can have, there really isn't a reason to for anyone to be turned away from a group... even better, you dont have to ask. Just pick a group from the list and hit join.

edit.. there is an in-game command to update the curse profiler, but I'm not sure what it is.

Now this is disheartening to hear..... I am not big on PvP to start with. Gonna have to think about this now. I do PvP in WoW but only to get the honor and badges needed to get better gear that I can use in other parts of the game. Other than that I dont really care for it. Would much rather PvE. As for your Trees WoW has 3 also. However for the Warrior 2 are DPS and one is Prot. (Tank) you also have the ability to Dual Spec and Switch between your setups. So I have a Tank Spec and a DPS spec. I also carry 3 full sets of Armor. One is for Tanking in one is for PvE and one is for PvP.

Well, the PVP is a little different than what I think it is in WoW. You take PvE objectives, but if the enemy shows up, then the PVP goes on. Basically castles and posts that you overtake...or defend. Oil, battering rams, cannons and stuff. I can't say too much about the tanks. I have a melee healer and a melee DPS. The low one I have that I used last night is a tank, but we also had Sal and Demon's tanks so I could have been DPS.

The better gear is in the PvP areas and from what I can tell, there are 3 good endgame armor sets depending on how you want to spec.

DDM_Salvatoris wrote (View Post): › edit.. there is an in-game command to update the curse profiler, but I'm not sure what it is.

/wardbupdate

The game does it automatically when you logout/quit or when you force it (get a refreshed gui effect). The problem is that it is either not uploading to the wardb website from the folder it saves the data too or the wardb website isn't changing the updates timely. It is really cool to check what your achievements are or what you have looted recently, especially when you are not in game.

The topic seems to not have any Mod responce in a while.

http://www.warhammeralliance.com/forums/showthread.php?t=61692

DDM_Pyromancer wrote (View Post): › Now this is disheartening to hear..... I am not big on PvP to start with. Gonna have to think about this now. I do PvP in WoW but only to get the honor and badges needed to get better gear that I can use in other parts of the game. Other than that I dont really care for it. Would much rather PvE. As for your Trees WoW has 3 also. However for the Warrior 2 are DPS and one is Prot. (Tank) you also have the ability to Dual Spec and Switch between your setups. So I have a Tank Spec and a DPS spec. I also carry 3 full sets of Armor. One is for Tanking in one is for PvE and one is for PvP.

I'm right there with you on PvP. I haven't ever liked the PvP in any other MMO besides WAR. You really have to try it out to see how it is. It's full on realm vs realm, it ends up being much more about which side has more people than what armor people have on. There is a lot less room for twinking than in other games, so you really know where you stand relative to the other players. RvR is gated, separated in to 10 level chunks, and when you enter a PvP area, your health is adjusted up to the top of the level range. There is certainly plenty of PvE, we just don't end up doing it very much. I can send you a free trial code and you can check it out. You can be in the middle of RvR action and be combat effective in just a couple of hours of play.

Shadow Warrior Guide

MMO Terms and Abbreviations

First let's start with class abbreviations:

Archmage- AM
Black Orc- BO
Blackguard- BG
Bright Wizard- BW
Choppa- Choppa
Chosen- Chosen
Disciple Of Khaine- DOK
Engineer- ENG
Iron Breaker- IB
Knight Of The Blazing Sun- KOTBS
Magus- Magus
Marauder- Mara
Rune Priest- RP
Shadow Warrior- SW
Shaman- Shaman
Slayer- Slayer
Squig Herder- SH
Sword Master- SM
Warrior Priest- WP
White Lion- WL
Witch Elf-WE (also see WELF used occasionally)
Zealot- Zealot


Now on to some Terminology (Some of these are Warhammer specific some aren't)

AI- Artificial Intelligence. The code that causes NPC's to do what they do.

PC- Player Character (A real person controls this character)

NPC- Non Player Character (The AI controls this character)

PVP- Player versus Player

PVE- Player versus Environment

RVR- Realm versus Realm. You will hear this term used more often in Warhammer Online.


RVR Stuff


Buff- anything that enhances your character's abilities (mobs can and do have buffs too). These are usually short term, but may also be long term. Many classes in Warhammer have long term buffs that will most often be cast on you before combat (although great buffers will also buff you during combat if the situation allows for it.) Make use of as many of these as you can as every little bit helps.

De-Buff - Anything that removes Buffs currently on a character or mob or reduces an attribute of a mob or player. Mobs/Players can de-buff you and you can de-buff mobs. A de-buff on a mob is not necessarily one that will reduce his ability to harm you, it may also increase your ability to harm him such as an armor de-buff (again, this works both ways). There are a ton of these in Warhammer RVR, learn them and learn them well as they are quite powerful.

DPS- Damage Per Second. This is a term to describe the amount of hurt you are laying down on your opponent. You will hear this a lot.

RDPS- Ranged Damage Per Second. If you shoot with a gun, cast from 40 yards back, plink with a bow, or just pick up a rock and throw it while cringing behind a tree, you just did some RDPS.

MDPS- Melee DPS. Since we are on the subject, it's pronounced (may-lay.) Sorry, had to get that in there. I'm sure that will start a conversation, if nothing else does

CC- Crowd Control. The idea behind CC is to slow or stop multiple mobs/players long enough so that you can either, get away (yes that huge green thing wants to kill you) , catch them (if you are on the offense), prevent them from using vital abilities fort a few seconds. There are many, many forms of CC in Warhammer Online. Knowing how to utilize them, recognize them and counter them will go a long way in determining your success with this game.

AOE- There are three main types of aoe in Warhammer.

There is ground targeted aoe which require that the "caster" pick an area on the ground (often depicted by a circular targeting reticule) and cast. These spells are generally channeled.

There is also Point Blank AOE. That guy with the red hair that just exploded right in the middle of the group like a neutron bomb. That was PBAOE. It is AOE that originates from the point of the caster and radiates outward from that point.

There is a third type of AOE that doesn't get mentioned as much but casters in Warhammer make frequent use of it. This aoe is a targeted aoe that becomes a PBAOE on the target. In other words, when there is a group of enemies standing close to each other, one can be targeted and basically exploded causing all targets around him/her to take damage as well. There is a term for this but I must apologize because it escapes me at the moment. I am sure another helpful poster will correct me shortly.


DOT- Damage Over Time. These are wonderful little spells that "tick" for a portion of their damage over specified intervals. Watch out, some of them are quite nasty.

HOT- Heal Over Time. These are heals that do the same thing as DOTS only they heal you instead of damaging you.

Taunt/Detaunt- These are very important in the Warhammer world and there are different types so I will try and sort them out for you.

PVE Taunt- This is a taunt that is used on a PVE mob to get its attention. Tanks will use this.

RVR Taunt- The same taunt that is used for a PVE mob is also used when fighting other players, however it does something completely different. When you taunt another player in warhammer it performs two functions. It serves as an interrupt to any spell they are currently building and it also increases the amount of damage you are able to do to them for a designated amount of time.

Detaunt- This is also very important to be aware of in Warhammer online. If you don't learn to detaunt, you won't survive very long. Detaunt is a skill that allows you to decrease the amount of damage being done to you, hopefully long enough so that you can get healed or escape. There are single target detaunts and aoe detaunts. Most classes have one or the other, some classes have both (lucky gits.)

Ward - Prevents a certain amount of damage from reaching the target. When the ward amount is used up, it drops and the target takes any remaining damage. Warhammer uses a ward system in the high level endgame.

Proc - Programmed Random OCcurrance. Basically a chance that when you do something, another effect will take place. For example, Swordmasters have a 25% chance to proc a ward whenever they hit something or are hit in turn.

LOS- Line Of Sight. Are you standing behind a tree? A rock? I can't target you! LOS is important in this game for both healers and dps. While most group heals will ignore line of sight, single target, big heals will not. Please keep in mind if you are standing in a corner or behind something and you can't see your healer, your healer can also not see you. The same works for dps in most cases. If you take cover in Warhammer, it generally works.


PVE Stuff

Mob- The thing you are poking with your sword while you are doing that ever-popular "Collect 10 skins quest." That's a mob. Mobs can be humanoid, beasts, undead. This is a PVE term for the most part.

Aggro - The attention aka "aggression" of any other NPC character who wants to hurt you. Once you "draw aggro" you either have to fight them, run away, or have someone "pull aggro" aggro off of you and onto them. This is also sometimes referred to as hate. This term is more common in the PVE environment.

Newb/Newbie- Old schoolers will tell you that this is the friendly, less insulting form of Noob.

Noob- This is the basic, you just did something stupid insult. Some people take great offense to this insult, particularly this spelling. If you would like to jab your buddy when he does something dumb, might I suggest using the friendlier version and call him a newb or newbie. Personally I am fond of the term Bewb but it never caught on (though I continue to try.)

BOP- Bind On Pickup. This item will bind to you as soon as it is looted. It may not be sold to or traded to another player. Some BOP items will also not sell to vendors although many will.

BOE- Bind On Equip. These items will not bind to you until you actually equip them on your character. They may be sold on the AH or traded freely as long as they have not been equipped.

WTS- Want To Sell

WTB- Want To Buy

WTT- Want To Trade

LFM- Looking For More

LFG- Looking For Group

Main- The character you play the most or invest the most in.

Alt- Alternate character.


more guides at the official forums

Hey Sal hook me up with one of them codes and I will get it all setup and if I like it I will go get the game...