How to be a Monster- Days 3 and 4

Last week I talked about my first experiences with monster play but I did not touch on what to do once you reach rank 1.  This week I will talk about getting your traits figured out and also learning how to play in a raid.

This is not a good idea solo at R1

Corruption traits are the most important thing to look at when you have gotten to your first rank.  They can improve your monster drastically.  Note that the average corruption trait costs around 1500 destiny points and about 20 silver to equip.  That is why you need to be rank one before you can equip them because they cost a lot of money for a low ranked character.  If you noticed while playing that you have plenty of morale or power then you might want to trade it in for something that you lack with the               for               traits.  These trade off traits can also be upgraded to rank 2 traits.  Notice how I said upgraded traits as you will need the original trait to get the rank 2 traits.  For example instead of trading 5% power for 5% morale the upgraded trait will be 5% power for 10% morale.

I recommend getting at least three rank 2 traits for your character.  However you can’t get the rank 2 traits as easily as their rank one counterparts.  In order to get a rank 2 trait you have to go to The Delving of Fror, which is a great underground dungeon under the majority of the Ettenmoors.  To get to Delving you need to have two outposts under your control then go to the Creep entrance found right outside of Dar-gazag.  From Delving you need to get dull and glimmering spirit stones (12 and 6 per trait respectively).

The other corruption traits effectiveness varies depending on what class you are and what rank you are at, so I will not go in depth with the other corruption traits.  At rank one I also recommend purchasing one or two race traits as they are very helpful.  Make sure you are careful in your decision as you will be spending real world money.  Class traits are obviously different for every class and so I will not be going in depth with them either but I will say that rank one is a great time to get at least three class traits if not all of them.

My traits at R5

At first I thought that appearance traits were a waste of destiny points.  While some experienced players might agree with that statement I have since changed my mind.  I have come to find that it is nice to see a change every now and then and that it is worth the cost.  I think it will also help you stay with monster play as it will reinforce that you are making progress in the game.  While you might not like every visual appearance change that you get, I guarantee you that you will be glad to get out of the starter appearance into some new higher ranked ones.

I also recommend checking out the potions and food that you can get at Gramsfoot as it is all very helpful when fighting Freeps in the Moors.  Also to be noted are the tracking skills which are invaluable at tracking Freeps and knowing what they are doing at all times.  Also note that the Freeps are tracking you constantly.  They will hunt down and kill you.  This is why we must fight them; to defend ourselves from the vile intruders in our lands.

I know that this is a lot to take in but rank one throws many new things at the player.  While some of these were available to you before rank one; chances were that you did not have the money to use them.  This is unfortunate because it puts on an unnecessary large learning curve at rank one.  If Turbine would have spread out some of the new things then the player would not be left feeling lost.

Day 3

Day three was my first good raid experience and I would not trade it for the world.  Once you get into a good raid you realize how much fun they can be.  During this raid we went from having nothing in our control to having the entire map in our monstrous hands.  This was a lot of fun and I challenge you to join raids.  While at the beginning I only recommend joining raids that have just taken a settlement (in order to ensure a good experience) latter on you will be able to join raids at any time and still have fun because you will get to know the regular people that raid.

YEAH, we got TA!

I am now going to move into how to behave in a raid.

The first thing to note when in a raid is that the Raid Leader is King/Queen.  Whatever they say is law and if you don’t like it you can leave the raid.  If the leader says to jump down a cliff you do it.  If the leader says to /faint you do it.  If the leader says to do anything you must follow it.  If you choose not to follow what the leader says then the raid is likely to fail no matter how smart you are.  One person can cause a raid to fail if they do not follow directions.  Also you need to find where your raid target assist window is because this allows the group to focus on just one target.  You will need to be able to click on the target quickly through the assist window if you are a damage class.  If you are a healer you still need the window because sometimes there are healer assist targets to let you know whom really needs a good heal.

Day 4

Day four we went into The Delving of Fror as a raid.  This was fun because it is so different then the topside experience.  There are countless undead and things fowler still and more importantly the spirit stones needed for rank 2 traits.  I recommend going here to get your rank 2 traits as soon as you reach rank one.  You need a group of 4 though to fight through even the easiest monsters in this area.  Never say I did not tell you.

So far each MP day has been better then the last and I hope this pattern continues on forever (but that is unlikely).

See you next time in How to be a Monster Day 5 as I talk about my raid’s first attempt on uber 900,000 health Delving fire boss (also known as Gaergoth the Unbound), my experience as a Warleader and killing a ton of hobbits in a raid.

Please note that Hawtshot and several other raid leaders will be requiring all Creeps in thier raid to have at least one poor map (to any settlement) by March 1st.  To achive this goal you must complete 25 quests in an area to get a the poor map from the deed.  (also you can buy them on the store)