The Newbie Guide

=About this guide...=

This guide is for the new player just delving into Scroll Wars. It will show you how to get your character going in this game. It is written for players, by players.

=The Newbie Guide=

Step One: Know Thy Self
The most basic knowledge you need to play Scroll Wars is how the in game map works! For an example, let's take (23,7). You know where you want to go, and you know you're at (1,1). This means that you must move 22 spaces across the board eastbound. Once you're there, you must move six spaces down. Did I mention that you can get your map coordinates from the URL (look at the bottom of your browser window while having your pointer over a location) and can check the map for reference? You should know that as well. Pretty easy eh?

The next step is to get a feel for the interface. Character Stats should be your guide on this. It is pretty simple to understand. HP (health points) represents your health, MP represents your magical energy and BP is for battle points. The important part is your BP- for when you run out of it, you may attack or do any non-magic action! If you run out of BP (and you will), you should find a safe place to stay until it regenerates. It would be best to hide indoors and away from Main Town. Karma is also another important part of the game, as it can restrict you sometimes. Your karma goes up for killing the essential "bad" things (Skeletons for example) while it goes down if you kill the "good" things (a Town Guard for example). All pretty simple huh?

Step Two: The Newbie Essentials
After you have your bearings for the game, you can now start playing. Your main goal right now should be to find a safe spot or maybe even a Guild. Guilds protect you from other players and more importantly can provide a place for you to rest. If you can't seem to find a guild, try to find an obscure building where you can rest. Once you have found a willing guild or a place to hide out, it's time to explore! Your first targets should be clams and mussels which can be found in water areas. A good spot to find these creatures is at Balleyback Pond (6,5). Searching inside Ponds or other bodies of water allows you to "fish", all while being near a store where you can sell what you find. Go "fishing" for a little bit, rack up some fish and sell them at Seafood Store (7,4). Once you have some money (or "coins"), take it to Tillbry Bank (6,6) and deposit it. Note: It's important that you deposit your gold often or someone could wind up taking off your head and your gold while you sleep!

Now that you have racked up some coins, you have some options. You can continue "fishing" or you can go buy a weapon and get to bashing. I'm going to go ahead and assume you want to bash stuff, so head on over to an Armory and buy yourself a weapon. I would recommend a Long Staff, as it is one of the best weapons in the game and relatively cheap. Of course, that is in my opinion, and by no means fact. If you have left over coins you might want to buy yourself some armor. It can soak some damage from attacks, but is not all that useful yet.

Step Three: Shut Up and Get Bashing!
With that nice weapon of yours, you can now bash stuff! Bashing "stuff" will not only net you gold, but valuable items. But sadly, that is not going to happen at level one. A good place you should check out is the Catacombs. Head on over to An Abandoned Shack (5,4), and enter the building. Once inside the shack, you can head down into the catacombs. Be sure to have a Light Source with you. Some examples of light sources are Torches and Lanterns. These can be bought from General Stores which are almost everywhere on the map. Once down here, keep pushing east until you get to A Chasm (12,9). You want to go down here, but beware, if you are not careful, you will get killed. Once in the chasm, keep moving until you start finding Giant Spiders. Attack them until you're out of battle points. I would not recommend that you sleep in the Catacombs, as you'll be killed by NPCs or other players in no time at all. Keep doing this until you get the almighty next level.

OR

If you have yourself a decent weapon, cheapest and best buyable weapon, the Long Staff, only 40coins from certain Armories, you can take on Giant Orange Crab, they are found mainly around Badsley Lake, (16,34), there is one other place which is Peasy lake, (30,6) smaller in size. The highest concentration of Giant Orange Crabs would be the north side of Badsley lake, there are monuments a plenty around there so if you choose to take on the Giant Orange Crabs, I would say get:

Morale Boost - Player recharges 4 extra BP per refresh time when by a monument.

Since there are monuments a plently around the north area of the Lake, you will be getting 14BP by standing on them at the refresh.

Step Four: Choices - and More Choices
Once at level two, you will be able to pick out a few skills AND raise your MP or HP by five. I wouldn't recommend raising your MP until much later when you have 100+ HP. You need HP much more than you need MP at this point. As I said before, you can pick out a few skills. You should go with Hiding (which I recommend) or some sort of combat skill that fits the type of weapon you are using. With Hiding, you can hide and cannot be found unless someone on the tile your on 'searches' for you. It is all in all a very valuable skill to have. The combat skills, on the other hand, can be a bit harder to pick from. If you have a Long Staff (which I recommend you do), get Blunt Weapon Training. This will increase your hit rate with the Staff by a whopping 15%. Now you can really pack a punch!

Step Five: Shut Up and Start Thinking!
Although I am sure you are already thinking, that is not what I meant. Now that you have a weapon, some basic equipment and a few levels on you, it is important that you now get a Telepath Crystal, which can be found at Magic Shops. It functions somewhat like a radio, allowing you to communicate with other players in the game who are online. You will probably find that the Broadcast channel is the most reliable method for getting additional questions about the game answered and making friends within the game. Note: Anybody who is not ignoring you and has their Telepath Crystal on can read what you broadcast, so don't give out sensitive information using the Broadcast channel!

Be warned that the Broadcast channel is not censored or very heavily monitored. Some players enjoy to frustrate and anger others and some may spew obscenities. While it is uncommon, should you encounter one of these sort of players, the best you can do is ignore them. Click their username, and below their player information should be a button titled Ignore. Problem solved.

Step Six: Moving On
After you get your first few skills, increase your HP or MP a few times and get a Telepath Crystal, you will notice the game ease up and become a little more fun. Now you can lead towards more of a melee character or a magic based character, depending on your preferences. I would say as your level gets higher, magic starts becoming more and more important. It can make or break Guilds, and will often be the Barrier between you and a bunch of blood thirsty player killers. It's really up to you though, you can do whatever you wish. You could try and go after a Demonic Sword or some other rare item. Just don't give up in the first few levels because you are getting killed by other players. The reality is that you will be killed a lot. Give it time.

Waking Up Dead and How to Deal With It
Dying in Scroll Wars is not a big deal. Say it with me, not a big deal. If you die, which you will eventually, you simply have to go to the nearest Temple (Purple shaded buildings). You will be brought back to life without your items or gold. Do not worry though, as you can return to where your corpse is and pick up your belongings. If you have problems remembering such a thing, you may want to write down where you died; we don't need any more lost corpses! If you are zombified, you have to wait until your battle points reach full. When that happens, you can stand back up and return to what you were doing. Remember not to hide in the same place twice or in the general area. Go somewhere else, try a less populated part of the map. Hide in a non descriptive building and you should be fine.

Bigger and Better Things
After gaining a few levels and buying a few skills, it's time to move on. If you plan on fighting alot, you should start trying to find a Demonic Sword. This sword is a major step up from the Battle Axe, allowing you to hit 75% of the time with the Bladed Weapon Training skills! However, getting one of these swords takes a lot of patience and bandages. Head on over to Trygia, which can be accessed through a portal found at Pordlegram Tower (37,4). Once at Trygia begin searching for Demon Knights. Be aware, these creatures can kill you very quickly, so bring lots of healing items! You will also be hitting for low amounts of damage. Don't be hesitant though, it is well worth the sword. Just keep trying and remember to keep your health up!

If you plan on going the way of a mage, you should try and buy some Spells from Magic Shops. My suggestion for your first spell would have to be Static Snap. Although it doesn't hit for very much damage (only 2), it's highly accurate. After this you should buyFireball or Lightning Strike. If you want to break into a Guild's Barrier of Trust, you need to get the Destroy Barrier spell. This can be used to weaken and break through any Barrier or Aura raised around a building and allow you to reap the goods. However, the spell is expensive, costing 5000 coins and isn't effective unless you have a wealth of MP. You can also use the opposite of Destroy Barrier and buy Barrier of Trust or Light/Darkness. With a Barrier of Trust, anybody not affiliated with your guild is barred from entering; with a Barrier of Light, "evil" players are barred, with a Barrier of Darkness, the opposite. These spells will afford you some protection from hostile enemies. If you want to be safe, but allow anybody to enter, buying Sanctuary would be a very wise decision. Let me refrain that these spells are not effective until you have more MP, though.

Don't think, however, that you have to be one or the other, you can be a combo of the two. This will allow you to do a little bit of everything, which is always good. Keep in mind that going the way of a Mage is going to be pretty rough until end game. Just remember what gives you the best XP and if you haven't already, join a Guild!

The Class System and You!
As of the most recent update, classes actually mean something. Choosing one class will allow you to have access to skills that the other classes cannot have. If you are on the fence, take a look at the Skill Tree. From this tree you should be able to see which class you want. Make sure the class in question suits your preferences. It is popular to choose for the melee accuracy bonus or  for the enhanced magical abilities.


 * If you feel that you made a mistake you may also reset your class. Note: You will not be refunded the XP involved in picking the skills and the class.

Making Things Bigger and Better
If you have a lot of extra coins, you can try your hand at Upgrading. Upgrading allows you to use various materials found throughout Dragonspires to upgrade your weapons and armor. As of the last update to this guide, I would advise against getting too savvy with Blacksmiths and Upgrading. Too many people have lost their equipment when upgrading. If you do plan to upgrade your equipment, I would only suggest upgrading the hit percentage. Everything else is too big of a risk right now.

XP "Cowing"
'Please be advised that many player characters do not like being attacked for any reason. Using other characters for experience gain in this way can be construed as malicious and violating, and may result in making many enemies. Be advised especially that hurting/healing only one character might bring his/her whole guild out for revenge.'

First find someone with a high level of HP, preferably over 30HP. This is easy to know if you have sense health, otherwise it's guess work. From here attack them once with the Battle Axe so they loose HP. Once you have done that heal them back up to full health. Continue this process to quickly get experience.

=In Short...=
 * 1) Search for mussels and clams until you get enough gold.
 * 2) Purchase a Battle Axe.
 * 3) Find a Guild or a good hiding place.
 * 4) Kill Giant Spiders, Giant Glourins, Lesser Demons Giant Orange Crabs or Hodmandods. Repeat step until level 99.
 * 5) Build a Barrier and sit around until the next update.

=Conclusion= Scroll Wars has a steep initial learning curve, but once you overcome the curve, it becomes a very fun and addicting game. Just remember to take it easy and have fun. If you have any questions regarding the game, feel free to ask over the broadcast channel or look on the Wiki for the answer.

=Thanks to:=
 * Claytonius3 for helping me out with wiki problems and giving me suggestions.
 * Jedaz for letting me use the "XP Cowing" part of his guide!
 * EVA-251 for being a good sport and fixing this guide up. Great job.