General New Player Tips?

[Ariadonte]

I'm quite new to the game, and just purchased it yesterday. I've been starting to feel like my progress is getting bogged down, and that's partly by now really knowing what to do, where to go, or what to focus on. I've read a few new player guides, but most of them are focused on something very specific and not just overall advice.

I currently use a sword, but I was reading about hammer/mentalism builds and lightning, and it sounded super-fun! I spent a few hours unlocking enough favor with the mentalism guy, but after that, I realized that hammer requires a lot of super-rare ingredients that I can't really farm at my current level. So I started trying to level up sword to get stronger, but after lv15 it seems to be extremely slow: I'm only getting like 1 lvl every 2-3 hours in crypts. I'm worried that if I spend all this time leveling up sword, it will be a pain to go back and re-level hammer down the road: should I farm gold instead to buy fairy wings from players to unlock enough favor for hammer?

I haven't really been doing anything with crafting yet: should I? The only craft skills I've been leveling are mycology/foraging by picking up things as I come across them in the world.

[Deldaron]

Leveling a skill after getting one skill like mentalism up will be faster because you can piggy back the other skill if you want (that is level hammer with mentalism and skip the crypt for higher level enemies) - you also get rewarded with synergy levels for leveling up a skill.

As for general to-dos: In your quest tab there's a "stuff to do" tab - I would focus on that and try and get through as much of anagoge island, serbule hills, and serbule as you can. For crafting, foraging skills are obviously good, but for true crafting skills I'd focus on cooking at the start - good food can be a game changer. Other than that I'd hold off for now while you're learning the ropes or do crafting skills as you feel compelled to and not to check something off a list. Working up favor with Marne and Joeh are great starting moves b/c they offer storage and Joeh buys gear drops for coin.

I don't believe there's any wasted time in PG since everything has a use, skills give synergies, and a character can be a jack of all trades so my best advice is just to do what excites you the most. If you feel like you want to rush things, focusing on a pair of skills to lvl 40 and then joining PUGs for the casino dailies can get you sone nice loot and coin. Attending the poetry jams on saturdays gives buffs to damage and survivability as well as combat experience that'll speed things along as well.

[Silkt]

You may find wooden clubs an easier item for favour with the hammer trainer, farm some gold and buy from Joeh used tab if you aren't getting any drops. Magical clubs can also start to be crafted at level 13 carpentry but you will need to survey your own gems as buying the gems would probably cost most than the club itself. But still a good way to start to understand the crafting system and any gem will do since you are just handing them over for favour.

[Ariadonte]

Thanks a bunch for the advice! I bit the bullet and bought a bunch of fairy wings to unlock hammer, and I'm super-happy with the decision: hammer+mentalism is so much more fun than sword/shield! Thanks a bunch for the hint about the "Things to do" tab - I had no idea the quest menu had tabs!!