09-11-2002 12:57									#1
	Dransik Beta - A free MMORPG Tired of ads?

www.dransik.com

A screenshot from the game (taken from the website)


This is a fun online game where you can develop whatever skills you find enjoyable or profitable, be it blacksmithing or monster hunting. Each skill has its own level count out of 100, and practicing that skill increases your proficiency with that particular task. Experience gained by a task also gets added to your total experience, which at certain values allows your character to become a higher level.

Intelligence, strength, dexterity and constitution are four attributes that you can increase each time your character 'levels'.

You start out on Silvest Island (aka Newbie Island) where players aren't allowed to attack other players, death doesn't cause you to loose items and all skills are capped at level 21. This gives you a safe environment to get the hang of the game.

	09-11-2002 13:19									#2
	Starting out Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

There are three different races to choose from (male and female versions for all 3). These currently have no effect on the game except cosmetic.
There are four character classes to choose from after that: Fighter, Blacksmith, Farmer or Magician.

The two seemingly most interesting classes, the fighter and the magician, are unfortunately the weakest of the four choices.
The fighter starts with some more armour than the other classes, but it is of the weakest type and generally doesn't help prevent the character from being hit by monsters. Also, without a decent weapon, fighting is extremely difficult. A fighter starts with a dagger that does 1 to 2 damage when it hits. For comparison, an unarmed fighter does exactly the same damage. These starting items cannot be sold either, so when you inevitably upgrade your armour and weapon, this starting 'advantage' is almost voided. As experience is gained by how much damage you do, levelling is also extremely slow and painful with this character.

The magician starts off with a wand and a rune to allow them to cast spells. They can get about 1600 experience in spells before the rune is used up. The problem for budding magicians, however, is money. Magicians don't actually have any way to make money by doing magic. They could of course hunt monsters to get an income, but then they would do better selecting a fighter initially.

Now to the better selections:
The humble farmer starts with a shovel and 20 pecan seeds. He digs a hole, attempts to plant the seed in the hole, and being a new character with no planting skill, fails almost 90% of the time. But that doesn't matter, each seed that does get planted lets you harvest an additional 11 or so more pecan seeds. After your initial round of planting and harvesting, you should have more pecans than you started with. Plant them all, harvest a much larger number... Eventually you will be able to sell a large number of them for a great profit! A very good character to start with.
Skanky's tip: After your first round of planting and harvesting, sell all your pecan seeds and buy as many grapes as you can. Then start farming grapes - they sell for slightly more, grow about 11 per plant as well, and grow faster than pecans. Don't bother with other fruits, they don't get you as much money.

The blacksmith option is perhaps the best of all. You walk to the nearest mountain, start mining it, and soon have dozens of iron ore in your backpack. Selling these to the town blacksmith NPC will give you 50 gold per ore, and you will soon be rolling in the gold! It also gives you the most experience per attempt, so is also the fastest way to level. Smelting the ore isn't generally a good idea on Silvest - its much better to have the money than the experience with your new character.

The occupation you select at the beginning only affects the items you begin with. By choosing to be a farmer, that doesn't mean that you won't be allowed to then grab a pick and start being a miner, nor any other occupation you choose. Some just give you a better ability to make more money than others.

	09-11-2002 13:30									#3
	Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

Miscellaneous tips:
* The U key reuses the last tool you used. This is invaluable when farming, mining, fishing, or generally anywhere that a tool is used.
* String can be made from cotton using a spinning wheel. This is cheaper than buying it, and you can make a profit (of about 2 gold) selling it. String is useful when making a fishing line.
* Cooked meat sells for more than raw meat (from monsters). Therefore, cook your meat before selling it.
* Oranges are the best food to eat to decrease your characters hunger level. They increase the hunger bar by 8, but only cost 6 gold each. For comparison, cooked meat sells for 7 gold, but only increases the hunger bar by 4.
* The 4 servers you can choose from use exactly the same maps and NPCs. The only difference is the server's location, and the users on the server. Characters started on one server can't be used on another. This just in, Krythan Inception server is now PvP Free! Thats right, you will not be PKed on this server any more!

Last edited by Skanky Burns on 12-11-2002 at 16:32

	09-11-2002 17:07									#4
	Inflate your Upload Space

that looks completely different from the last time you posted about it Skanky.
they've certainly added some fancier graphics anyway. :b;

	09-11-2002 18:46									#5
	Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

The old graphics: http://www20.brinkster.com/keldacsdransik/Druids.gif
Just a bit of a change.

EDIT: Damn, it doesn't like me linking directly to it.

	09-11-2002 20:10									#6
	Support Apolyton, buy GURPS/ Alpha Centauri

How much time/day must you spend on it?

	10-11-2002 05:22									#7
	Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

Basically, however much you want. If you want to just connect for 5 minutes, do a bit of hunting or mining or whatever, and then quit, fine. If you want to spend 9 hours straight playing it, also fine. And you don't need to connect every day either. If you have a busy week and can't play at all, no-one will mind.

	10-11-2002 15:21									#8
	Support Apolyton buy from Amazon

Well won't i get killed/robbed/mutilated/raped if i log out somewhere unsafe....are there safe places to log out?

	10-11-2002 18:23									#9
	Suffering from ads?

If you log out while you are being attacked it is the same as if you have been killed (you lose whatevers in your backpack and maybe an item off your body). If you aren't being attacked though, you just disappear from the game and reappear where you were before when you join again. The worst that could happen is that monsters have spawned where you were before, and they all start attacking you.
There are of course many towns around the land where guards ensure that there are no monsters around. Definately a better choice to log out in town, but if you really, really need to log out quickly and happen to be out in the wilderness, you won't be penalized for it.

Oh, and if you haven't left Silvest Island yet, dying doesn't even matter as you never lose items in Silvest.

	12-11-2002 16:12									#10
	Support Apolyton, buy Galactic Civilizations: Deluxe Edition

Question:
I started as a Blacksmithy :=) went to Lvl 10 and here comes my Question:
Playguide says "The Skills window will tell you what skills you currently know, and the number on the right is your level in that skill. To raise a skill using the Experience Pool, double-click on the skill you wish to raise. "
Is this true? i thought you could only raise the skills by actually doing them? after levelling I only get the ability to raise abilities?

	12-11-2002 16:31									#11
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization 2

The experience pool is the only other way to raise levels in specific skills besides using the skill. Once you get off Silvest, you can talk to NPCs and do quests for them. Completing a quest gets you some skill pool points, and they can be used in any skill you already know.
Of course, to raise a skill you have to have some spare skill points first.
Nice starting choice btw.

Whats your characterst name and what server are you on?
I am (predictably) Skanky Burns on every server except the Great Wall.

This just in: The Krythan Inception server is now PvP free! On this server, there are NO Pkers! Non-violent, trade-type people rejoice!

	12-11-2002 18:46									#12
	Enter the AD-FREE zone

Im GreenBuddy @ Magic&mystery.
My Kills:

Digging 23
Smelting 15
Forging 6

Lumberjacking 21
Milling 1
Carpenting 1

Planting 18

Axes 4
Small Blades 3

Last edited by Main_Brain on 12-11-2002 at 22:02

	15-11-2002 00:02									#13
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

The game looks nice. The price is right. I'll give it a go.

	15-11-2002 01:30									#14
	Lose 30 kilos (of popups)

I imagine that the chances of finding some actual roleplaying in an open and free MMORPG would probably be in the negatives.

I'll stick to DAoC, the roleplay servers, good graphics (not that good graphics are important to me... I just don't like bad graphics ), and quality gameplay is worth the $13 a month.

	15-11-2002 03:16									#15
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

AC2 for me.

	15-11-2002 04:17									#16
	Support Apolyton, buy Call to Power 2

Me too when it arrives in England, if I can tear myself away from HoI and MoO3.

	15-11-2002 06:08									#17
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

Not too much role-playing at the moment that I have seen, although with guilds being brought back soon and player-run governments on the list of "things to do" for the developers, this situation should change.

It should also prove interesting to see how the Krythan Inception server pans out, being a non-PvP server. Will it become a role-playing heaven, or a vulture heaven?

There is a Pay-to-play version of Dransik, based upon the previous Dransik beta version. And people are actually paying for this game even with this type of graphics.
(This picture is probably from night-time ingame, so its kinda dark)

Attachment: olddrans.jpg
This has been downloaded 34 time(s).

	19-11-2002 17:42									#18
	Enter the AD-FREE zone

Mhh I just finsihed this SwordQuest and now Im not sure wheter to stick to the Axe or to choose the Way of the Sword
Is Quickslying more Important than High Damage?
Also Maces are quicker tahn Axes and still have great Damage Potential.. but they Lack Really Good Models later on I saw.

	20-11-2002 04:34									#19
	Support Apolyton, buy Civilization: The Boardgame

The skull-crusher is a fairly good mace. I'm not sure just how good they are, as you need level 15 in blunt weapons just to equip it. Axes are also pretty good (although the best axes, like the Vorpal Axe) are only available on Pay to Play. Swords are the best bet, for the sole reason that there are more sword types available to choose from, and they actually have much better models as well.

For sword-skill under level 15, it is recommended to be using a gold sabre as it swings faster, therefore hits more often. A broadsword does more damage but is less accurate, so for lower-level people it ends up doing less damage. After reaching level 15 in swords, though, a broadsword is the way to go. Higher damage is generally better, as fighting costs stamina and hitting someone once for 100 points is much better than hitting them 10 times for 10 points each, all things being equal.

Above the broadsword are the + swords, imaginativly named the +1 sword, +2 sword... up to the +5 sword. These rare swords are very nice.

	20-11-2002 04:39									#20
	Support Apolyton, buy Alpha Centauri

This looks a lot like runescape... ever played it?

I'll give this a try.