Doing it Wrong?

Hey there. Been around since the KS, but only started playing regularly the last couple releases. It is pretty cool seeing this go from nothing to where we are now!

That said, I'm having an awful hard go of things as a Solo. I took Path of Love, and followed the Quest breadcrumbs up to Ardoris. Along the way, I've done a couple other side quests in Owl's Head, and done some general crafting to build stuff for my tiny Row House. So overall, I'm level 29, with not the best gear in the world, but not the worst either.

But here's where I'm wondering if I'm "Doing it Wrong." As a Solo, there doesn't seem to be anything in the game that I can kill anymore for positive experience. 1-2 skull areas are wimpy, and I end up spending my quest pool pretty fast. 3-skull areas I can handle the mobs 1-2 at a time, but as soon as I get ganged up on, I'm dead. But even then, most of the time I'm hitting net negative XP. Even though the patch notes say that Tower of the Shuttered Eye was changed to be more in-line with the expected level of the PC at that point in the quest, I get the snot beat out of me by all the skeletons every time I try to make the approach.

So it seems that as a Solo, I'm just stuck at this point. I can't gain positive XP to raise my levels more. The couple areas that I can grind out lumber or ore have been nerfed to the point of futility for crafting. I can't afford to buy +9 gear to give myself a huge edge.... Am I missing something fundamental? Or is the game just not able to be played as a Solo at this point in the polish cycle, and I should come back in 3 months?

 

What combat skill trees do you utilize?

 

Game is definitely slow to get going. The recent difficulty bump they did because some people found it too easy to get skills unlocked (which doesn't affect them in anyway as they ALREADY have skills unlocked) has made it very hard if you aren't on the exact hybrid melee/mage that the devs have been pushing since day 1. It is doable, but takes longer as you are having a harder time getting higher tier skills unlocked. I got past the 2-3 hump mainly with running all available hidden vale and novia side quests. I've had to settle for throwing swords into my preferred magic only build due to being unable to push past certain areas without having the damage boost of auto attack.

 

U5-style Paladin. Heavy Armor (aug chain), sword, shield. Just enough Magic to make it interesting (the 3 fists, some healing)

 

You are not doing anything wrong, but the game doesn't tell you how to gain skills and become more powerful in an efficient manner.

There is a good post by @VZ_ that helped me understand what is going on with the skill levelling: https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...its-a-sad-day-for-me.62500/page-6#post-653709

Another excellent guide is https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/forum/index.php?threads/day-1-player-guide.42368/, provided by @Themo Lock.

In the New Player Welcome forum you will find other guides as well that will help you with your initial problems.

Good luck!

 

Welcome Glimo!

 

I've been in the same boat as you for the past 2 weeks. 1 and 2 skull zones are easy and hardly give any xp while 3 skull mobs beat the snot out of me, especially with ranged attacks.
My xp pool hovers between 0 and 300 so I hardly gain any skill and don't get better. It's getting so annoying up to a point where I've pretty much stopped playing all together.

 

Welcome to the game!

 

It's good to see you post on the forum, @Glimo and @dp_dropout !

Not only your own experiences, but those of many community members are shared here to help us all get moving forward.

As well as the links that @Kara Brae provided. I like to re-read the thread with the guide to deck-building now and then that you can find here:
https://www.shroudoftheavatar.com/f...od-and-how-to-modify-it-for-your-needs.58341/

It always gives me ideas of new things to try out or adjust.

 

Yes it is difficult for some at this point in development. What I see is many new comers come into the game and try to win the game and do it by themselves. While I understand wanting to come into a game and figure it out yourself is how many want to play. I do that myself in most of the new games I start, but just to let you know, that is fine for a while and then once in a while you you may want to jump in and let others help you, well or not . There is a ton of xp out there. If you add people to your friends list and jump into some group hunting you will see huge gains in xp and skills by being able to go to more difficult areas. It may be that you jump into a control point with a group for a little bit once or twice a week for example and raise skills and xp. I'm Majoria in game, please feel free to add me to your friends list. I would be happy to help if I can. I have been around a long time and know a lot of people if I cannot help, I can help to get you answers.
edited

 

Quests can certainly get you over the hump, as long as you focus where the xp goes.

Earth passives, temp defensive glyphs (Tactics mainly) and some source of HP restoration. I preferred Death Tree as it damages and heals.

Deck building (unlocked) and picking the suitable zone for your build helps immensely. (melee mobs typically)

I leaned heavily on Blade and a good heavy chest, death touch, parry, corpse explosion early on. Opening up some tier 4 skills can give you great defenses later on.

 

You still gain levels even though exp is always low, your skills just soak it up right as you get it. You can lock some skills if you want to work on specific ones.

If you can kill single enemies in 3 skull zones you will probably get strong enough to be comfortable in those zones very soon. You can also try to explore some more to find good areas, maybe there are 3 skull zones which fit your character better.

+9 gear sounds like overkill for your level, you don't even need it to solo 5 skull zones once the skills get high enough. Also, if you haven't done it yet, make sure to unlock the str/dex/int passives and earth passives to gain some extra boost.

Just keep on pushing, I think you will feel like you turn a corner at some point.

 

Ranger type - light armor , archer, spear & shield plus water/earth/lunar magic plus some healing. We should pair up since I'm just below your level. Add Numa Vorlanos to your friends list and fortune willing we'll be hunting together soon

 

@Vodalian said it well. In the early stages of the game progress is painfully slow - the only thing that kept my XP pool alive was doing ALL the quests in Soltown and Owl's Head. They are there for a reason - do them all.

That said, what's happening now is that you are earning smallish amounts of XP by knocking over the mobs that you can, and that XP is being swallowed up by the skills that you have set to train. This is important - if your XP pool is going down, you have too many skills training. Like a tap dripping into a watering trough and ten hungry camels drinking from it. Have a careful look at the skills you have set to train, decide which ONE or TWO of them you want to work on today, and turn the rest to maintain.

With patience you will turn the corner, and life gets a lot easier

 

I had a crapton of skills training simultaneously, which was heavily advised against, but I stuck with it because I'm somewhat bullheaded.

As such, it took me about 1 month to solo a 1-skull swarm, and another month to do the same in 2-skull.

After that, I unlocked my skill bar and started playing around with the deck system. This was a gamechanger for me and in retrospect I should have just unlocked them to start.

So I wouldn't say you are necessarily doing anything "wrong" however you might benefit from revisiting some choices you made on how to play which might be unduly influenced by your experience with other games. Things are different in Novia.

 

making opposing statements, you say you had a bunch set to train which is "unlocked" and then you again say unlocked.

Did you have skills unlocked at the start and locked later one or visa versa. cannot have it both ways.

Best way is to manage your skills fro the start if you leave them all unlocked (set to train) you are shooting yourself in the foot.

Oh and, as stated , read some of the very good player guilds, if you come here without doing the time learning you are also shooting yourself in the foot.

 

He's talking about 2 different things.

Unlocked = set to train (by context)

And unlocked deck

 

Yes... what @Snazz said...

A bunch of skills were set to train which caused overall slow development of skills.

I also had all the skills locked in my hotbar. Going back and "unlocking" all the slots in my deck made a huge difference for the positive once I got the hang of it.

Sorry for the confusion!

 

how do you know what level you are?

 

I believe if you type /stats in the chatbox it will output details to your chat log located at: C:\Users\[user]\AppData\Roaming\Portalarium\Shroud of the Avatar\ChatLogs

There is something in there called "Adventurer Level" that will give you a number.

 

wow all that just to see your level....thanks