Beginners Guide to Ether Saga Online

Some great information in there! All you need is a little formatting, let me give a shot at this;

Welcome to Ether Saga Online!
(Basic information!)

General information: Ether Saga is a fairly unique mmo, for the F2P (free to play) genre at least. The game is based around pets and equipment.. Also leveling your skills up with spirit (explained later). It has kind of a relaxing anime fantasy look about it. The game is simular to Perfect World but going a 'different direction', if you have ever played that game before. Sure, it can be a grind like most mmos now adays; But there is never a shortage of quests and always something to do! Not to mention the DAILY events that give away lots of XP (also explained later)!

Classes/Races

First, lets cover the available classes, their strong points, weak points and main roles in Ether Saga!

Dragoon: The dragoon is your sterio-typical chinese warrior, complete with a spear (that has little feathers on it Oo) and your jackie chan karate sounds. But what is the purpose of a dragoon? That all depends on how you build it! You could go for DPS or you could go for a TANK. It all depends on your affiliation! Erda is the main affiliation of the dragoon skills. The most common TANK build would be unda/erda. Unda increases your health by 20 every level. Erda increases strength and defense every level, not to mention beefing up all of your attacks (even your starting skill, based off physical damage as it increases your str). However, lately it has been suggested to me Windu/Erda. Dragoons get lots of health buffs later on (and even starting at lvl 12). Although Unda will add quite a nice chunk of hp by later levels, it could be substituted thanks to their HP buffs. Windu would give you a little more dodge. This is all up to the player of course! The most common DPS build would be Pyra/Erda. Pyra will increase your strength +3 every point, which suppliments your Erda +1 str + 1 def and affiliation damage boost.

Mystic: The mystic is an odd 'healer' class. I honeslty have never seen a healer class like this. Their heal is very weak untill late game, but they make up for it with damage and beefiness. I would actually go so far to say that mystics can be tanks too. Although less base defense than a dragoon would have, this can be increased with items anyway. The mystic main affiliation stat is Unda, which will increase your health by +20 every point. There are several different builds for Mystic and an ongoing arguement over the 'best'. But in my opinon, the 'best' build is whatever fits your play style. For a main dps/healer build the most common is Unda/Pyra. Unda is your main affiliation, so pyra is used to suppliment it with +3 int per level. Some people like to go with Windu thinking it will buff their heal.. But really, every 10 levels it only adds +2.5 hp to your heal. I would personally choose the +3 int which will buff you ACROSS THE BOARD insted of adding 2.5hp onto my heal (which really isn't even noticable). But again, its up to you! A very fun class. There is one more 'interesting' build and that is using Oora to increase your STR for your starting skill which is based off physical damage.

Shaman: I can't say much about the shaman aside from this; They are the backups. Not the best at anything, but always there to 'fill in the gaps' of a team.. Which makes them invaluable at times. Main affinity is Windu. Most builds are Windu/Erda for backup tank. You will have the damage boost from windu and defense from Erda. Its pretty straight forward, however some go Windu/Pyra for +int increase.. Which will increase your spell damage / heals slightly.

Conjurer: Main dps spellcaster class. Main affinity is Pyra/Unda. Generally these are the only two stats people put into for the class, but some will put into oora for the starting physical attack (which is very spammable). That would be considered an 'unorthadox' build, but whatever fits your playstyle I say. Very lackluster class untill mid/higher level.. When it starts to pack a punch. You also get some mild 'control' powers later on. Overall, your typical 'mage' with a floaty ball of death (that shoots magical beams.. or what scientists call 'lasers')

Ranger: Your a dude with a bow! Only not as cool as that one guy from LoTR. The bows in this game are small and look like they came from a toy store.. But then again, so does most everything else (especially the horses Oo). Although you are using a bow, you will be using your affiliation to increase skill damage (int) and their propper affiliation. Main affiliation is Unda, your most spammable skills and AoEs use this affiliation. It also increases your max HP. Most common build would be Unda/Pyra for DPS, as most of the skills you will use are not physical damage based and will be increased by the +3 int pyra offers. Others go Unda/Windu for the affiliation bonus and dodge/res Windu offers.

Rogue: Melee DPS (naturally). The name is sorta missleading, if you have played other MMOs. You don't get stealth untill level 60 and most of your skills you can't use while invisible (There are a couple that you can use ONLY why invis though, again.. later on). So, untill late game.. Your not a rogue. Your a dude with two daggers (at least by modern MMO standards. An old school rogue would rarely turn invisible, just catch people unawares or trick them). Rogues also have the highest natural resilience, so most take Windu to amplify this. Oora is also one of the most common stats as it is a major affiliation of theirs and increases physical damage.

Races: There are three races in Ether Saga.. However, they effect you in no way aside from what hair you can choose (and what you look like with no gear on, fasion mode aside) and what powers you get for your birthday. I have yet to find a single cohersive list of the birthday powers, so that one you will have to figure out on your own! There are also a few 'hairdos' in the cash shop that are specific to each race.

Pets!

At first you may not think pets are important. They are just to supliment your character. Wrong. Pets are a HUGE part of the game! Alot of the time, your pet will either do the same ammount of damage as you or even OUT DAMAGE you. Also, they can have more hp than you too. Its almost like you are THEIR pet <.< Lets get into the basic information about pets! (Quick note about pet ranks; the higher this number, the higher the bonus to over stats is)

Attitudes: There are four different 'combat types' (or attitudes) of pets. There is Bright; Fierce; Cautious; and Normal. There are others, but that doesn't come untill much later when you 'fuse' pets together. As this is just a basic guide, we wont go into that! Generally, the fierce type have higher HP bonus and are melee damage based; Normal are just normal and can learn heals from the pet vendor; Cautious are more ranged.. well.. 'cautious' pets.; Bright pets will 'naturally' learn a heal skills and are more int based.

Fusion: Fusing with a pet is very important! Some pets will even give you a fusion bonus! If you fuse with a pet, you will share damage with it.. And any 'fusion bonus' will be applied to you while you are fused with it. For instance; My hedgehog adds +3 oora affinity. So while fused with him, I gaint +3 oora! It is important to keep an eye on your fused pet, however.. As he will take damage as you do! Make sure he has more or equal health to yourself. When you use potions, it will effect both of you! While you are fused with a pet and have one out, make sure to open your pet window and select which pet you want to earn the most xp (or keep it 50/50) from hitting the - and + symbols next to the percentage. Fused pets will level as well as your summoned pet! But it is split between the two!

Capturing: So you want to capture a pet? Its easy enough. Any pet with a little 'bag' icon are capturable.. as long as you are even level with it or higher level than it. If the monster is higher level than you, it will ALWAYS FAIL. Its best to go after green named mobs as even level (white) mobs will resist more often. The nets are also fairly expensive (20s each) for lower levels. So best bet is to wait untill level 15 where you get 5 for free.. Only 5, so make them count!

Skills

Ahh good 'ol skills. You will be able to have every one of your class skills AND max them all as well! So don't worry about skipping a skill or holding out on pumping it up! The main 'currency' for buying and leveling skills is 'spirit which you get everytime you kill a monster that yields experience. As you will probubly be killing alot of monsters, you will usually have more than enough spirit, untill higher levels. Then you have to start 'farming' for spirit in instances, where the mobs seen to drop a bit more spirit than normal ones (for instance, mobs drop 1-2 for character Joe at level 10.. And in the first instance they drop 5). Your class will have 1-2 main affinities, so pay attention to those when deciding your build. Pumping up a skills affinity will boost that skill as well as any bonus you get from the affiliation.

Crafting

Ugh.. The crafting system on this game is rubbish. Seriously. But, that wont stop me from helping you understanding it! Every dual-class has their own craft; Dragoons/Shamans have Guardian Craft. Rangers/Rogues have Scoutcraft; Mystics/conjureres have Arcanecraft. Each of these crafting 'vocations' is supplied by a gathering skill; Guardiancraft is mining. Scoutcraft is.. Woodcutting and Arcanecraft is skinning. These are all rather straight forward and explained well enough in game. You will need some 'resorces' for some of your recipes that can only be found in the instances, so be prepared for that. It is generally really annoying, but sometimes you can sneak in (except for arcanecraft.. I feel for you) and crab the resource before your mauled to death by an OP boss.

Anyway, I may add more later to this. I hope it is maybe a little more clear and less *facesmashwalloftext*

-Thanks to WNxRUIN

another 'wall of text'! put together by ami<3 (aka andracil on the ESO forums, thought it would be nice to put it here as well xd)

Table of contents

Character and Pet related
-How do I train?
-How do I fly/How do I get a cloud?
-What pet should I get?
-Why can't I catch this monster?

Skill related
-How do Nascent skills work?
-How do Vocation skills work?
-Where do I get Ethyr skills?

Quest related
-Where do I find <quest location here>?
-Why don't my kills add up?
-How do the Event quests work?
-How do Puzzle quests work?
-I killed Baahu Mageban but his kill didn't count, why?
-How do I defeat instance bosses?
-All my quests disappeared when I logged in!

Item related
-How do I get rid of bound items?
-How does the possessor work/How do I obtain a possessor?
-How does gear glow?
-How do I transfer items between characters?
-Where do I get transformation cards?
-Where do I get <diplomatic item>?
-What do the Dust Scrolls do?

Money, trading and the Heaven Repository
-How do I make money?
-How does Treasure work?
-Where can I get Red-Banded Yarn and Sorrow Wood?
-How does the Pokari Broker work?

Class related
-Which class should I choose?
-Which affinities should I train?

Miscellaneous
-How does PK/PvP work?
-How do I get <title>?
-How do I make a screenshot/Where are my screenshots saved?

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CHARACTER AND PET RELATED

How do I train?
-Unlike most other MMO's, Ether Saga's training system is quest-based. This means you should never kill a monster unless you have a quest for it. Always do all useful quests for your lvl. A useful quest is usually indicated by the reward, if it says you'll get exp (or treasure), it's a worthwhile quest. Note that Bulletin Board quests are last resorts, they give less exp than most other quests, but they're infinitely repeatable. Do those when you've run out of other quests to do. Also, you may want to prioritize Training quests, which have great rewards overall.

How do I fly/How do I get a cloud?
-The Cloud is a quest reward from a lvl 12ish Training quest, so keep doing those and you'll get it. The cloud itself is a simple item: Use it as you would any other, and use Spacebar and Z to ascend/descend.

What pet should I get?
-This is mostly a personal choice. You'll likely want a rank 130+ pet with good fusion stats (unless you want a healer). You're better off asking around on forums or ingame on what pet to pick though.

Why can't I catch this monster?
-Your lvl is likely too low. Press L->Transformations->Card List to see a list of the monsters. If you hover over the image, you'll see the lvl needed to catch it. Also note that you may still fail, pet catching isn't 100%.

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SKILL RELATED

How do Nascent skills work?
-When making a character, you also have to choose a birthday. That birthday decides three of your skills, which you'll get at lvl 10, 30, and 50. To see the skills and decide your birthday, check http://eso-forum.perfectworld.com/sh...ad.php?t=24271

How do Vocation skills work?
-You can learn Gathering Skills from the Woodsman and Crafting Skills from the Craftsman. Both are in Pokari. You can only learn two skills, so pick the right ones. The best choice is likely your gear crafting skill: Skinning/Arcanecraft for Conjurers and Mystics, Mining/Guardiancraft for Dragoons and Shamans, and Woodcutting/Scoutcraft for Rangers and Rogues. To make things, you'll have to buy or obtain the recipe for it. Most recipes can be bought at the Craftsman, or dropped in instances. You can buy gathering tools at the Woodsman, and Crafting items at the Tool Merchant. The rest is self-explanatory.

Where do I get ethyr skills?
-There are two ways to get Ethyr skills:
*Instance drops:The first class-specific Ethyr drops in the first/second instance as a recipe. Other Ethyrs can drop in the other instances (not class-specific)
*Quests:Certain Ethyrs are rewards from quests.
Note that the Ethyr quests do NOT necessarily give Ethyr skills as rewards. They're just poorly named quests. If you're curious where to find a certain Ethyr, press K->Ethyr List and hover over the skill.

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QUEST RELATED

Where do I find <quest location here>?
-Usually, your quest log will have some green text in it. If you click on that green text, you'll start running (or flying) to that point automatically.

Why don't my kills add up?
-You likely have another quest for the same monster. In this game, quest killcounts don't stack (or shouldn't, at least), meaning that if you have two quests asking for 30 Jaqisac Arsons, you'll have to kill 60 of them. This is because you'd lvl way too fast otherwise, by simply grabbing 10 quests for the same monster off the bulletin board, then killing very few of them to gain mass exp.

How do the Event quests work?
-For the events in Dream:Trials, they're daily. Just talk to Chauncy to go to the Trials, then to Jino to go to Pokari. Events are on the east and west sides of town and repeatable every day.
There are also events in Pokari (non-Trials Pokari, that is). They're at fixed times, go to http://eso-forum.perfectworld.com/sh...ad.php?t=40671 to see them. Note that if you don't finish these quests within the hour they're available, the quest will be stuck in your quest log until the NPC shows up again and you talk to him. Make sure you have enough time before starting the event (they end exactly on the hour, so don't start one if your clock says xx:55).

How do Puzzle quests work?
-These quests are entirely optional and should never be started unless you have the complete puzzle ready to be delivered. To get puzzle pieces, do Bulletin board quests, you'll randomly get a piece after finishing those.

I killed Baahu Mageban but his kill didn't count, why?
-You're killing the wrong one. There are two Baahu's, one inside the Crypt of Hunters reachable by talking to Chauncy, and one on the overworld Crypt of Hunters west of Pokari. Kill the one you haven't killed yet.

How do I defeat instance bosses?
-They seem tough at first, but you should be fine with a good squad of a tanker (high HP is more important than defense, make sure the tank is fused with a high HP pet) with Pokari Wine or Etherhop Brew, 1-2 Mystics, and some damage dealers. That's the general setup.

All my quests disappeared when I logged in!
-A verify from the launcher should fix that.

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ITEM RELATED

How do I get rid of bound items?
-For gear, socket it until it breaks or absorb it into a soulstone. If you don't want to do that, or the item isn't gear, use the Master of Coalescence in Pokari. Note that this will take 7 days to destroy the item.

How does the possessor work/How do I obtain a possessor?
-The possessor is obtained from a lvl 20ish training quest, so just keep doing those quests to get it. After obtaining your first possessor, you can get another one by doing the Tusko Rampager puzzle quest. Note that possessors have a time limit - use it too much and it'll disappear.
As for Jadeons, you can get one of those from Wehn every day. They only last 3 hours.
For a detailed guide on the possessor's functions, check http://eso.perfectworld.com/guide/extra_possessor

How does gear glow?
-You can get green-glowing armor from instances. Boots and Tops usually glow right away when dropped, but you'll only get recipes for the glowing headgear, so you'll have to make those yourself.
You can also make armor and weapons glow by imbuing/embedding them, but I'm afraid I don't know the exact formula for that. It seems to depend on the level of the equipment and some other factors. I've even seen weapons that start glowing after upgrading them twice (spirit upgrade through levelling).

How do I transfer items between characters?
-There are three ways to do this:
*Use the mail function at a postbox, this costs 5 silver per stack of items though.
*Have a trustworthy friend transfer them.
*Drop the items in a remote location, then relog to the other character to pick them back up. (NOTE: Do NOT log out, only go to the character selection screen. If you logout, you can't pick the items up because the safety lock will reactivate.)
Note that Perfect world Entertainment can not be held responsible for any lost items.

Where do I get transformation cards?
-You get a few cards from quests, but most of them are rare monster drops. Just hope you get lucky.

Where do I get <diplomatic item>?
-Every diplomatic item has a chance to drop from any lvl 15+ (Blueback Knucklers and such being lvl 15 exactly) monster. You'll just need luck.

What do the Dust Scrolls do?
-They add set bonuses to your gear. For example, it may add a bonus to your top if you wear the indicated headgear.

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MONEY, TRADING AND THE HEAVEN DEPOSITORY

How do I make money?
-The best ways to make money are:
*The lvl 20+ romance quest: It's a daily quest started at the Eldest Matchmaker in Pokari. It gives a nice amount of money.
*Killing elite monsters: Sometimes, you'll see a rare, named monster walking around. Kill it for a good amount of money and some Diplomatic items you can sell or keep.
*Selling stuff: Obvious.

How does Treasure work?
-Treasure is a special currency you get from quests. You can use it to Embed/Imbue gear, buy Potions, and buy Pet food. If I missed anything, please let me know. Try to always use treasure before money unless you're really rich, because money is a lot harder to come by.

Where can I get Red-Banded Yarn and Sorrow Wood?
-Those are cash shop items. Press J ingame to open the cash shop. You'll need to charge Zen at https://billing.perfectworld.com/ , which means spending real money. However, you can also buy the items from other players, or the cash shop currency at the Pokari Broker.

How does the Pokari Broker work?
-Check here: http://eso-forum.perfectworld.com/sh...ad.php?t=42941

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CLASS RELATED

Which class should I choose?
-Pick whatever suits you best. The opinions of other people are not your opinion. We can't help you decide what class to choose, that's your choice alone.
For a quick summary of the classes, check http://eso.perfectworld.com/info/class and the class boards on this forum.

What affinities should I train?
-Usually, your class indicates what affinities you should learn. Check your skills. If the majority says "Pyra element" for example, you're likely best off adding Pyra. Check the class boards on this forum for more specific information.

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MISCELLANEOUS

How does PK/PvP work?
-You can challenge anyone anywhere to a duel by rightclicking their avatar and selecting duel. As for PK, you're forced into a permanent state of open PK at lvl 45. This means anyone can attack you, and you can attack anyone, if they're lvl 45+ as well. However, there are severe consequences to random PK'ing - you'll lose a lot of items if you die after killing other people, so don't be afraid you'll get killed all the time.

How do I get <title>?
-Most titles are rewards from General Scruffins and some Bulletin Board quests. However, there are quite a few other titles, and it's impossible to list them all. If you see a title you don't know, ask on the forums or ingame

How do I make a screenshot/Where are my screenshots saved?
-You can make a screenshot by pressing the Print Screen button. To make better screenshots, press F9 and use that tool. Screenshots are saved in C://Program files/Perfect world Entertainment/Ether Saga online/element/screenshots by default.

- Thanks to WNxAyumii