Guide : Lineage 2 Submissions

General Ideas

So, you've decided to try Lineage 2. Good for you. Here are the ground rules of the game world:

1. Equipment matters more than levels, regardless of what class you are.
2. Money is ALWAYS useful, and you will never have enough of it.
3. Every class is capable of soloing, every class is capable of grouping, every class is needed.
4. You will die. Repeatedly at times. You will lose exp. You will delevel. You will lose items. You will NOT lose money. You will recover.
5. For best results, pick on things weaker than you. If you're in a group, pick on more of them.
6. The first rule of MMORPGs is strongly in force: whoever has the most time to play, wins.


Class System: Your Path to 75

Lineage 2 has a non-overlapping branching class system. At levels 1, 20, and 40, you will pick a new class, with choices based on what your previous class was. These are called Job Changes or Class Changes. The level 20 job change is the First Job Change, and the level 40 one is the Second Job Change. There are rumors of an upcoming set of job changes at level 60, but these are not implemented yet, and probably won't be for some time.

In order to change classes, you will need to complete special quests in addition to reaching the required levels. These quests are typically long and difficult. For the first job change, the quests start at level 19 and are soloable, but difficult for some classes. For the second job change, there are three quests at levels 35, 37, and 39, and will generally require groups.

Example:

A human character at level 1 has the option to be either a fighter or a mage. Let's say she becomes a fighter. She will be a Human Fighter from levels 1 through 19. At level 19, she decides to begin the class change quest to become a Knight. She completes the quest, then reaches level 20. She visits the class-changing NPC, and becomes a Knight. She now has access to the skills that a Knight can use, which are different than the skills available to the other 20-40 classes that she could have become (Warrior or Rogue). She also retains all the skills which she learned as a Fighter (which a Warrior or Rogue would have as well).

At level 35, she begins her second class change quests. In most cases, she won't have to decide which class she wants to become for her second job change until the level 39 quest. At level 39, she decides to do the class change quest to become a Dark Avenger (her other option would have been Paladin). She finishes this quest with the help of her guild, hits 40, visits the class change NPC again, and becomes a Dark Avenger. She will remain a Dark Avenger, with all the skills and abilities of the Dark Avenger, Knight, and Fighter, for the remainder of her life, or until NCSoft adds third job change option.

Class Overview: Starting Classes

Upon character creation, you will first choose a race, and then choose a starting profession. Most races have the option to be either a fighter type or a caster type at this point, with dwarves being the only exception (dwarves can only be fighters initially).

Generally speaking, all the 1-19 fighter classes are very similar, and all the 1-19 caster classes are very similar, so we'll discuss them by profession first, then by race.
Side note: Lineage 2 stat system
A large departure from most MMORPGs is that your character's basic stats in Lineage 2 are set solely by race and initial profession, and don't change except under very specific circumstances. You don't allocate stat points, you don't gain any stats by leveling, and you don't change stats when you upgrade your character class. Not even equipment changes your stats in general. As a consequence, the differences between races tend to be the same at high levels as they were at low levels. Keep that in mind when you pick a class.

Fighters

Fighters are a very general melee class that has the basic abilities of a tank, archer, and rogue all rolled together in the same class. And that's good, because all these classes start as fighters, and don't separate until level 20. The often-overlooked side effect of this shared heritage is that a fighter can and should take advantage of all three classes' advantages while they last.

Human Fighter: A good, basic character to start with. Human fighters have the advantage of being able to use the Relax ability starting at level 5. This will allow them to regen HP much faster between combats at the expense of MP. While soloing, this is often a huge time saver. Like elven and dark elven fighters, humans have the ability to learn the special attack types for all three major weapon types: swords/blunts, daggers, and bows.

Human fighters have excellent stats for defensive tank work. However, they have mediocre offensive stats, meaning that they are not particularly good at dealing damage, though they aren't bad at it either. This unfortunately includes their run speed. While they're not the slowest fighter on the field, they're certainly not the fastest either, and since speed doesn't change when you level or change jobs, it's something they have to live with for the rest of their lives. This is most problematic for humans who plan to become archers or rogues later on, and as a consequence, you won't see too many of them around even though they are more durable and have better long-fight potential than their counterparts. Human Knights, however, are very, very popular.

Elf Fighter: Elven Fighters and their higher-level derivatives are the fastest moving things on two legs. However, they are also the most fragile of the close combat classes. Don't be deceived, however, as that still makes them a far cry from easy to kill. In fact, elven Fighters get self-buffs to raise both their physical attack and defense so that they're on par with the natural abilities of the other races' fighters. They don't have any extra regenerative or restorative abilities until level 15, though, so don't count on being much of a tank until at least your first job change.

That's not a big deal, though, as the Elven Fighter is almost always played as an archer until level 20, regardless of what class the player actually intends to become. Because elves can outrun just about anything, and because of the large populations of naturally-occurring monsters near their starting area that are vulnerable to bows, elves are almost invariably sighted carrying projectile weaponry from levels 1-19. The elven archer and rogue classes are among the best at high levels due to their naturally high movement speed, and the Silver Ranger in particular is typically regarded as the best soloing class in the game. Don't dismiss Elven Knight classes either, as they are quite powerful in a group.

Dark Elf Fighter: A very powerful offensive force, the Dark Elven Fighter is, like the human and elf, a combination of the skills held by tanks, archers, and rogues. Dark elves are very heavy on all the offensive stats in general, including speed, where they are second only to their normal elven counterparts. The downside to the Dark Elf Fighter is that he lacks regenerative and restorative abilities, and continues to do so up until 20. The only healing ability they get is a life stealing spell, which is decently strong, but very expensive mana-wise.

Dark Elf Fighters can use the special skills for all three weapon types, but are typically bow and dagger-users, with a rare sword or blunt user among the crowd. However, the Dark Elven level 20 classes available tend to see a fair number of Palus Knights on their way to becoming Bladedancers (one of the two dual-wielding classes in the game), in addition to a large number of rogues on their way to becoming Abyss Walkers.

Dwarven Fighter: Dwarven Fighters are outright the weakest fighters in terms of their combat abilities. From levels 1-19, they don't even get special attacks. Neither do they get regeneration or healing. What they DO get, however, is the ability to craft and to get additional drops from monsters. This is the general way of all dwarven classes in Lineage 2. Being the only race that can craft in the game, Dwarves lack a little in terms of combat skills even at later levels, but never nearly as much as they do from 1-19. After the first job change, however, things get a little brighter in terms of their abilities as combatants, though they will never be quite as good in a fight as a non-crafting class. Pick a dwarf if you intend to craft or scavenge for parts later on, but don't expect much out of a dwarf character from levels 1 through 19.

Orc Fighter: Orc fighters are melee all the way. They can both take and deal great amounts of damage in a slugfest, and they're still decent with a bow from levels 1-19, although they do not receive the Power Shot special attack. They are, unfortunately, the slowest-moving fighters in the game, and even slower than several caster types. Nevertheless, the orc fighter remains a solid and popular melee class, and its higher level professions sport a number of very dangerous special skills.

Casters

Mages are the starting class for both offensive and support casting classes. Healers, buffers, nukers, utility casters, and pet casters all come from this class. That makes the Mage 1-19 a very, very versatile class, and a good amount of that utility spills over into the early post-20 levels. Interestingly, all of the starting Mage classes except the Orc play almost identically from levels 1-19. As a particular note, leveling a Mage is difficult from 1-19 because new abilities are only available at levels 7 and 14, as opposed to fighters, who receive new abilities at 5, 10, and 15.

Human Mage: As mages go, Human Mages are the middle ground. Their spell power and casting speeds are the middle of the road between the ultra-quick elves and the heavy-hitting dark elf casters. They do have more HP than either of them, though, second only to the orc mage among casters. Sadly, they are also hands down the slowest-moving class in the game. As a mage, this is a very severe weakness, and not one to be taken lightly, because it means that every single melee class, even the sluglike orc fighters, can catch you if you try to run from them. This makes life for the soloing human Mage a fair bit harder than his elven or dark elven counterparts.

Remember, however, that Mages are the base class for not only the offensive casters, but also the support casters, and humans excel in this capacity. Bishops are the best healing class in the game, and Prophets are widely regarded as the best buffing class, and a decent meleer to boot. Human offensive casters also have a unique mix of spells, taking several strong spells from the lines of both the elven and dark elven casters, and have strong crowd control capabilities to make up for their lack of speed, so don't discount them.

Elf Mage: The Elven Mage is all about speed. Elves are the fastest-casting class in the game, and the fastest moving among mages, able to keep pace with every fighter class except the Elven Fighter and Dark Elven Fighter--this is significant because it makes the Elven Mage as fast or faster than any melee class that packs a stun ability. Their damage per cast is slightly below average, however, and Elven Mages subsequently take more spells to do the same amount of damage as the other casters. It's uncertain right now whether this affects their damage over time relative to the other casters or not.

Elven casters' agile nature makes them a very good choice for PvP, and you will see a good number of elven casters on their way to becoming Spellsingers. Less frequently, you will also encounter the elven healer/buffer class, the Elder, who has received some powerful new spells in Chronicle 1.

Dark Elf Mage: The Dark Elven Mage is the antithesis of the Elven Mage. He actually casts slower than the Human Mage, but does more damage with a single spell than any other caster. He also moves at a decent pace, the same speed as a Dwarven Fighter, but slightly slower than the Human Fighter. Aside from those minor differences, however, the Dark Elven Mage is very similar to the Human and Elven Mages.

Orc Mage: The Orc mage is the real standout of the Mage crowd. Orc mages are very well-suited for a mix of melee and casting. The early levels are hard, but once you start getting more spells, the benefits of the orc mage's armor (orc mages can wear light armor as opposed to just robe armor) and combat abilities become apparent. Orc Mages and their higher level variants aren't very straightforward classes, but they are very powerful when used properly.

2nd Class Change Guide:


PvP system: Karma

The Karma system originally featured in Lineage 1 is back in Lineage 2, and is intended to strike a balance between allowing free PvP in the game world, while preventing it from becoming mindless and rampant. The basic idea is that you may engage in hostile action against other players if you want... but your actions have consequences.

Color system

Player names are displayed in one of three colors to other players: white, purple, or red.

By default, everyone's name is white. This represents a "clean" state of karma. Your name will remain white as long as you do not engage in hostile action against another player. Hostile actions include attacking them with a weapon, casting a harmful spell on them, or assisting a monster by healing or buffing it.

If you take any hostile action, your name will turn purple for a period of time, and stay purple until you cease hostilities and let a certain amount of time pass. A purple name reflects a state where your karma is in danger of changing. Killing a purple player will incur no penalty, so you are free to defend yourself if attacked. Attacking a purple player will turn your name purple as well, however, so don't interpret this as a signal to go wild with your sword or spellbook.

If you kill a player whose name is in white, your name turns red. This is a "chaotic" state of karma. This is extremely dangerous for you, as other players will be able to attack you freely without their names changing color, and more importantly, YOU WILL DROP ITEMS IF YOU DIE. Additionally, town guards and several special "guard" NPCs in the world will also attack you on sight.
Your initial color Your action Your resulting color
White Attack white or purple Purple

White
KILL white Red
White KILL purple Purple
White Attack or KILL red White
Purple Attack white, purple, or red Purple
Purple KILL white Red
Purple KILL purple Purple
Purple KILL red Purple
Red Attack white, purple, or red Red
Red KILL white EVEN MORE RED
Red KILL purple Same level of Red
Red KILL red Same level of Red

Working off Karma

When your name turns red, you incur a certain number of Karma points, shown on your status screen. You will remain red until you either die a certain number of times, or "work off" your karma by killing monsters of your own level or higher, or some combination of the two. Both are long and costly endeavors, so be very careful when fighting other players, and be sure you're ready for the consequences if you decide to go chaotic.

As you begin working off your karma through death or hunting, you will notice the "redness" of your name beginning to fade. Note that no matter how light the red is, it's still red. There's no such thing as a "pink" state, a player with a light red name is just as red as the infamous PKer with the blood red tag, and is subject to the same karma penalties.

Implications of the system

The karma system makes it a tough call most times to decide whether to fight back or not against an aggressor. If you choose to fight back, you will turn purple, and your attacker will not be penalized for killing you if you lose. If you do not fight back, then your attacker must choose whether to continue hitting you and risk going chaotic, or to stop and leave. Either way, you lose exp if you are killed, regardless of who or what killed you. Weigh the costs of losing exp against the possibility that the other person will chicken out and not risk going chaotic after all. Conversely, if you're thinking about smacking the idiot next to you who's stealing all the spawns in the area, keep the rules of karma in mind, or you stand to lose more than a couple of kills' worth of exp.

A much more controversial side effect of the system is that once you have turned red, it is extremely difficult to turn back. If a player with a white name attacks you while you're red (and lots will), and you kill him in self-defense, you will become more red as a result. Pick a camp far away from other players if you intend to work off your red, and keep friends around to help you in case of trouble.

Equipment Basics

You start the game with a set of basic armor for your class, and a small selection of newbie weapons. Put these on as soon as the game starts.

Okay, now here are the basic workings of the different pieces of equipment you'll find for your character:
Type (Slot) Function
Weapon (right hand or both hands)
Affects all offensive actions.

PATK (Physical Attack) and MATK (Magic Attack) ratings are based primarily on your weapon.

Armor (upper body and lower body)
Main source of PDEF (physical defense) for all characters. Robe armor will also have bonuses to MP from these pieces.

Both of these slots must be of the same general type in order to gain mastery bonuses for wearing certain armor types (e.g. rogues would need to wear light armor in both the upper and lower body slots to gain the bonus evasion points from their Light Armor Mastery skill).

Armor (head, hands, feet) Additional source of PDEF for all characters.
Accessories (rings, earrings, necklace) Only sources of equipment-based MDEF (magic defense).
Underwear and Cloak (upper-left and upper-right blocks) Currently unused.

Equipment Grade System

Being the equipment-based game it is, Lineage 2 prevents overtwinking by using a weapon and armor "grade" system, where all equippable items of a certain power level carry a "grade" that corresponds to a minimum character level required to use that item normally. Attempting to equip an item with a grade too high for your character level will result in insane penalties to movement and attack speeds, so don't even think about it.

Along with the equipment itself, the consumables associated with weapon use will also carry grades. Soulshot, for instance, comes in grades from None to S. The rule is simple: you have to use the consumables that correspond to the level of the weapon you're using. D-grade weapons use D-grade soulshot. D-grade bows need D-grade (bone) arrows.

This works the other way around as well. You can't use none-grade soulshot with a D-grade weapon. However, note that you also couldn't use C-grade soulshot, even though it's higher than the item level. The two must match. The most common mistake arising from this is trying to use bone (D-grade) arrows with a none-grade bow. You don't get extra damage from doing this; you get an error message, the ridicule of your peers, and a quiver full of expensive arrows that you can't use. Don't do it.
Grade Minimum Character Level Soulshot/Spiritshot Grade Arrow Type
None 1
None Grade
Wooden
D 20 D Grade Bone
C 40 C Grade ?
B 52 B Grade ?
A 60? A Grade ?
S 67? S Grade ?

Skill system: SP and Training

SP

When you kill something in Lineage 2, you will receive exp, and also a small quantity of SP, or Skill Points. SP are used to purchase your class skills from trainer NPCs that are typically found in towns. SP are also used by clan leaders in the process of raising the clan's level.

Trainers

Trainers are typically well-marked NPCs, and are almost always found in groups corresponding to related professions. For instance, most of the fighter-based class trainers in the town of Gludin can be found in a single building bearing a sign marked "W.Guild". This is not always the case, but a general breakdown follows. To train, talk to the appropriate NPC for your race and class, and choose "Learn Skills" from the conversation menu.

W.Guild: Human and Elven Fighter classes usually train here.

D.E.Guild: All Dark Elves train here, whether fighter or mage-based.

Church: Most towns have a large cathedral or similar building. Human and Elven mage-based classes (remember, this includes healers and buffers) tend to train here, though offensive caster classes will sometimes need to look elsewhere.

Blacksmith: Dwarven fighters train here. I believe Artisans and Warsmiths train here as well.

Warehouse: Dwarven fighters may also train here. I believe this is where Scavengers/Raiders and Bounty Hunters/Treasure Hunters/Master Raiders train as well.

Orcs: Most towns have a couple of orcs standing congregated in a back alley somewhere. Those are the Orc trainers for all Orc classes.

Spellbooks

When training the first level of a magical ability that you did not already have (for instance, level 1 ice bolt), you will notice that there is a requirement at the trainer screen that you have the appropriate spellbook in your inventory ("spell-icebolt1"). This is very straightforward. If you want to buy that skill, you will require both the indicated amount of SP and the listed spellbook. This is only necessary for the first level of a spell, and is not required when you learn the second or subsequent levels of a spell (e.g. ice bolt 2).

Spellbooks can be purchased in most major cities from one of the two magic shop NPCs. Training the first level of an ability is the only use for spellbooks, so don't bother buying more than one. Also note that most melee classes will not need spellbooks to train their abilities, with a few exceptions (like the Elven Fighter needing "spellbook-adv attackpower1" to train the Offensive Aura 1 spell).

Leveling Guide: General

Leveling is very important, and something that you'll be doing the entire time you're playing. Here are a few general tips to follow.

* Group for exp, solo for cash: Even once you've reached grouping levels, you'll still need to take time to farm cash alone
* Money is important: Don't exp too fast and let your equipment fall far behind, or you're in big trouble
* Killing lower level monsters is better exp: You kill faster with less downtime on greens than on whites solo, so you actually get the best exp over time by picking on high greens.
* Killing even lower level monsters is better cash: Exp and cash drops don't scale at the same rate in Lineage 2; farm blues for optimal cash (until Chronicle 1, then all bets are off).
* Speed wins: Killing faster rather than harder is the way to go, no matter what you're fighting.
* Find good targets: Some monsters are much easier to kill than others. Find them and take advantage of their weakness.
* Group mobs: Certain monsters have double HP for their levels, but are worth double exp and cash. These are generally regarded as good targets for groups, because they're too hard for an individual to kill efficiently at that level, but aren't that much harder for a group to kill.


Leveling Guide: 1-20

* Don't group yet! Soloing is much faster from levels 1-20 because the starting classes aren't good enough at any specific task to be effective in groups.
* Do your map quest. You always start next to an NPC who will give you a quest at level 1. The quest is always to kill keltir (small fox-like things that are usually swarming a few feet away, if your quest says "nephytir" it's a translation error, and you should kill keltir instead), and the quest reward always includes a map of your starting area, a 550 adena value, yours for free. Do this quest or be extremely lost.
* Do cash quests. Every starting area except Talking Island (Human start) has at least one repeatable low-level quest worth several thousand adena. Find them. Do them. Repeatedly.
* Buy the first weapon, quest your second. Buy the 883a weapon in your category from the store in your starting town, but don't bother with the 14k weapon, because every race has an equivalent weapon available through a quest around level 10. DO NOT BUY THIS WEAPON FROM PLAYERS, QUEST IT YOURSELF. Purchase the 62k and higher weapons from players as you get the money.
* Use a bow as any fighter class, even if you don't plan to play a bow-user past 20. Bows are REALLY GOOD.
* Weapons are more important than armor. They cost more for a reason. Buying a new weapon will improve your performance more than new armor.
* Spare the soulshot. Once you have a 62k weapon, you'll have the ability to use soulshot to double your damage on a single swing. DON'T USE ANY. Carry some for emergencies, but don't waste money during normal hunting. Your cash is much better saved and spent on a new weapon.


Humans: Talking Island Town

Weapon quests: Lv.9 - Sword of Solidarity (sword), Lv.10 - Spirit of Mirrors (caster)

High-yield bounty quests: None (closest is Collect Arrowheads, which requires you to kill hard mobs inside the dungeon)

Elves: Elf Village

Weapon quests: Lv.10 - Skirmish with the Orcs (sword/caster), Lv.12 - Sea of Spores Fever (sword/caster)

High-yield bounty quests: Lv.8 - Collect Spores (2k adena), Lv.18 - Catch the Wind (30a per 1-2 lireins, but you'll be killing a ton of them already anyway)

Dark Elves: Dark Elf Village

Weapon quests: Lv.10 - Forgotten Truth (dagger), Lv.11 - Spirit of Craftsman (sword)

High-yield bounty quests: Lv.8 - Trade with the Ivory Tower (2k adena), Lv.11 - Scent of Death (2k adena + heal pot). Note that these two quests can be completed at the same time and the required monsters are literally right next to each other. Also, unconfirmed, Lv.18 - Sweetest Venom (3.5k adena).

Orcs: Orc Village (Elmore)

Weapon quests: Lv.12 - Merciless Punishment (sword)

High-yield bounty quests: Lv.5 - Wrath of Ancestors (1.5k adena), Lv.9 - Skirmish with the Werewolves (1.2k adena), Lv.11 - Dark Winged Spikes (3.5k adena), Lv.15 - Totem of the Hetsui (5.2k adena)

Dwarves: Dwarf Village (Elmore)

Weapon quests: Lv.10 - Jumble, Tumble, Diamond Fuss (hammer)

High-yield bounty quests: Lv.10 - Covert Business (2.4k adena, 2nd+ time), Lv.11 - Dreaming of the Skies (2.4k adena, 2nd+ time)

Other tips

* You must hold down the Ctrl key to initiate hostile action against a white-named player. Holding down Ctrl-Alt will put you in hostile mode, and your character will continue attacking rather than just attacking once and stopping.
* Watch out for the old bait-and-switch while trading. Click the item to make sure it's what you think it is.
* The conventional way to challenge someone to a fight is to walk up and hit him once. Attacking back signifies acceptance of the challenge.
* Sometimes people abuse this system and hit you once, hoping you will hit them back and turn purple so their mob of friends can kill you without turning red. Choose your fights carefully.
* Physical damage against players is halved compared to monsters. Use soulshot to compensate for this.
* Carry scrolls of escape. Your time is worth more than the 460a it costs to use a scroll.
* If you absolutely have to make a major (weapon or armor) purchase and you can't find a player who's selling what you want, go to Giran Castle Town. The tax there is 10% less, so items are substantially cheaper.
* Deaths cost you somewhere between 5% and 10% of your current level's exp. You can lose levels this way. Rezzes can give you back some of that lost exp, but the rezzer needs to group with you. Use /target <name> in case you have trouble forming a group while dead.
* You can drop items on any death, but it's slightly more likely on a death while your name is purple, and MUCH more likely while your name is red.
* You will tend to accumulate large quantities of crafting material drops (e.g. thread, stems) while hunting. While you could sell these to NPC vendors, you would do much better to hold on to them and sell them to a dwarf player, or, better yet, give them to a dwarf in your guild.